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■ XX XX 



LECTURES AM) SERMONS 

EMBRACING THE 

SOVEREIGNTY, HOLINESS, WISDOM AND BENEVOLENCE OF GOD; 

THE MORAL AGENCY OF MAN CONSIDERED 

AS 

SUBJECT TO AND CAPABLE OF MORAL GOVERNMENT, 

A.LL RECONCILED WITH 

THE ENDLESS PUNISHMENT OF THE FINALLY IMPENITENT, 

THE FILIAL RELATIONSHIP OF THE BELIEVER 

TO GOD, THE FINAL STATE OF 

THE RIGHTEOUS, 

AND 

THE WORLD BY THE GOSPEL CONVERTED TO GOD. 



Rev. F. O. BLACK, 

Pastor of the First C. Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati. 



« ■♦♦♦ » » 



CINCINNATI: 

H. S. & J. APPLEGATE, & CO., PUBLISHERS. 
43 Main street. 

1851. 



■BssU- 



Entered according to act of Congress in the year of our Lord, 1851, 

BY F. G. BLACK, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of 

Ohio. 



MiB&< 



STEREOTYPED BY T. WRIGHTSON, 

Cincinnati, Ohio. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



1. The Sovereignty and Holiness of God, in view of the 
moral agency of man, 7 

2. The Wisdom and Benevolence of God, in view of man 
as the creature of God, subject to and capable of moral 
government, and as a sinful creature, still subject to 
and capable of similar government, 56 

3. The Sovereignty, Holiness, Wisdom, and Benevolence 
of God ; man's moral agency considered under the law 
and gospel, and the endless punishment of the finally 
impenitent ; all considered and reconciled, 99 

4. The filial relationship between God and the true 
believer, considered and explained 149 

5. The final state of the righteous considered, 169 

6. The conversion of the world by means of the Gospel, 222 



PREFACE. 



This little work is sent forth by the author, hoping 
that it may contribute, at least in an humble way, to 
promote in the mind of the attentive reader, exalted 
and worthy apprehensions of the great and glorious 
God, as he goes forth in the Sovereignty of His Holi- 
ness, Wisdom, and Benevolence, ordering all His 
works and dispensations for the promotion of universal 
holiness and happiness. Moreover, it is the ardent 
desire of the author that he may have so presented the 
dignity and responsibility of man, as that every reader 
of this little volume may see and feel that he is held 
accountable to God for the formation of his own per- 
sonal character, and that his eternal destination, 
under God, depends upon the part he performs in this 
vastly important matter. The author would urge 
every sinner, as there is efficacy in the Gospel to save 



VI PREFACE. 

all, to seek at once the filial relationship to God con- 
templated by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and thus 
prepare for a life of holiness, and the saint's ever- 
lasting rest. Christian's are urged to a life of dili- 
gence, perseverance, and laborious effort, by appro- 
priate motives drawn from various sources. 

How far the author has done justice to the impor- 
tant subjects discussed in this work, will be determined 
by the impartial and candid reader. That it may 
contribute its mite to the glory of God and the eternal 
good of man, is the sincere prayer of the author. 

F. G. BLACK. 



LECTUEE I. 

THE SOVEREIGNTY AND HOLINESS OF GOD. 



" In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw also the 
Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and 
his train filled the temple." Isaiah vi, 1. 

That which the prophet here saw, is 
revealed to us, that we, exercising faith in 
it, may be led to behold, as in a glass, the 
glory of the Lord. 

1. In the vision you see the eternal God 
sitting upon his throne, high and lifted up, 
and in this, reference is had to his sovereign 
dominion. 

2. The temple in this place denotes the 
church of God on earth, filled with the 



8 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

manifestations of his resplendent glory, 
transforming in their nature. 

3. The attendants about his throne, are 
the mighty angels, actively engaged in 
celebrating his glory. 

4. Their song, and the comprehensive 
view they take of the glory of God, are 
particularly set forth in the passage. 

The primary truth both of natural and 
revealed religion, is the being of a God. 
If there is such a being, he is the proper 
object of the reverence, adoration, thanks- 
giving, and confidence of his intelligent 
creatures, and of all the other exercises 
and duties comprehended in the notion of 
Religion. If, however, there be no such 
being, then, men have nothing to fear 
beyond the passing events of time, are sub- 
ject to no law, save that of stern and blind 
necessity, and can rationally propose no 
higher end, during their fugitive existence, 
than to take care for themselves, and secure 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 9 

their happiness by every expedient in their 
power. Virtue and vice are to them words 
without meaning, and the only foundation, 
for a distinction in actions, is prudence, or 
a selfish regard to present interests, which 
are, of course, paramount to beings w T ho 
know that they- will soon cease to feel, 
think, and act. 

The universe is not eternal and indepen- 
dent, but there is a Being distinct from it, 
who was anterior to it in his existence, as 
he is superior to it in the dignity of his 
character. He is absolutely Eternal, with- 
out the beginning of days or end of life. 
Moreover, he is separated from matter by 
the spirituality of His essence. Unlike the 
gods of the nations, He is not attached to 
any particular place, but exists in all places, 
as unlimited in essence as He is in dura- 
tion. His infinite nature is the proper 
subject, if I may so say, of every great and 

good, every venerable and amiable quality 
1* 



10 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

in the highest conceivable degree. Such 
is the God, whose character and doings we 
are about to examine. 

In this lecture, I shall contemplate God, 
first as a Sovereign, uncontrolled, yet, con- 
trolling all the mighty events of this vast 
universe. When we contemplate God as a 
Sovereign, we contemplate His right of 
dominion as founded upon nature and grace, 
conducted by Providence and the influence 
of His Word and Spirit. It means that 
uncontrolled power which He exercised in 
the creation of all things, and His uncon- 
trolled wisdom, power, and benevolence, 
shown in the great system of salvation 
through our Lord Jesus Christ, in providing 
it for, and offering it to man as He has, 

FREELY. 

No dominion is so absolute as that which 
is founded upon creation. In this place, it 
is granted that God, as a Sovereign, in the 
great work of creation, had. a right to make 



HOLINESS OF GOJJ. 11 

whatever seemed good in His sight, and to 
make it just as His wisdom might dictate 
and His benevolence prompt. But I also 
affirm, that as a Sovereign, after making 
man as He did, subject to and capable of 
moral government, and placing all His 
interests in the hands of one man under the 
form of federal government, as a Sovereign, 
He had no right to damn him without giving 
him a fair and equitable test of personal 
agency in this state of things. In creation, 
God has shown most brilliantly His Sove- 
reign power; He has made some parts of 
the creation mere inanimate matter, of 
grosser and more refined texture, and dis- 
tinguished them by different qualities, but 
all inert and irrational. He has made others 
in an organized state, having animation and 
life,- and to man He has superadded an 
immortal soul, endowed with reason, by 
which he is allied to a higher order of 
beings, and may hence be considered as 



12 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

the uniting link between heaven and 
earth. 

God, as a Sovereign, has a fixed plan of 
procedure, from which He will never vary. 
Sooner will He damn the whole race of 
man, than depart from the plan determined 
upon in His own infinite mind. As all will 
admit, it is necessary that God, as a Sove- 
reign, should know all that He does or may 
do; but, it is not necessary that He should 
do all that He knows. I believe it is 
generally admitted, that the wisdom of God 
is infinite, therefore, He knows all things 
that He does himself, as also all that has 
been, or ever shall be done by His crea- 
tures. His plan of procedure is hence 
founded upon His wisdom, and not His 
wisdom upon His plan. The physical 
Omnipotence, of God is as unbounded as 
is His nature ; yet, no one supposes that 
the power of God has ever been exerted to 
its boundless extent, and that He has done 



HOLINESS OF GOV. 13 

all that Omnipotence could do. But God's 
moral government over man, is not resolved 
into a question of physical omnipotence, 
and hence it does not require that such 
power shall be exerted directly upon man 
as a subject of moral government. In this 
case, the power of God is bounded by that 
plan which He has adopted for the proper 
regulation of the affairs of His moral 
government over man, as subject to and 
capable of such government. 

You may contemplate God in all the 
perfections of His moral character, wis- 
dom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, 
and truth, w T hich, as a Sovereign, consti- 
tute the rule of His agency, and no one can 
form any reasonable objection to Him as 
such, since all His actions are bounded by 
this all-perfect rule. The great difficulty 
in our minds, when contemplating God as 
a Sovereign, is, that we are depraved 
guilty sinners, and the character of God is 



14 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

pure and holy; hence, when we look at 
Him as a Sovereign, especially as He holds 
us accountable to Him for our conduct, we 
fear and tremble in view of approaching 
retribution. God is the Sovereign who has 
unbounded dominion over all things in 
heaven, earth, and hell. 

We shall next consider the rectitude 
and holiness of the character of God, as a 
Sovereign. 

In Scripture, holiness is often attri- 
buted to God ; and there are some pecu- 
liarities attending it, which it will be 
proper in this place to consider. He is 
said to be glorious in holiness, as if this 
constituted the distinguishing excellence 
of His nature, and diffused a lustre over 
all His other perfections. He swears by 
His holiness, and thus holds it out as the 
inviolable pledge of the truthfulness of 
His promises. It is brought forward to 
enforce His commands, to guard His insti- 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 16 

tutions against profanation and pollution, 
and to excite us to a watchful care over 
our thoughts, words, and actions. This 
perfection of the divine nature is impressed 
upon all His works and dispensations, 
which are thus rendered resplendent with 
the glory of the great God. This perfec- 
tion was singled out by the angels of God, 
as the subject of praise when they appeared 
in vision to the prophet, as in the language 
of my text. 

In Scripture, the terms holy and holi- 
ness bear a variety of senses, which I shall 
not now stop to consider. There is, how- 
ever, one sense which it is necessary that 
I should consider, because it so frequently 
occurs. The term when applied to God, 
sometimes means august and venerable. 
This is the case in more passages than we 
are apt to immagine at first sight ; it so 
signifies, in almost as many places as it 
signifies his absolute purity, which is the 



16 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

idea commonly attached to it. When the 
Psalmist pronounces his name to be " holy 
and reverend/ 5 the second epithet is ex- 
planatory of the first ; and when he says, 
" His holy arm hath gotten him the vic- 
tory/' there is no allusion to moral excel- 
lence, but to majestic power. The com- 
mand to sanctify the Lord, is a command 
to treat Him with all that reverence which 
is due to His great name. It is so ex- 
plained by the prophet, " Sanctify the 
Lord God of Hosts Himself, and let Him 
be your fear, and let Him be your dread." 
Isa. viii, 13. He is a Being distinguished 
from all others, by the transcendent excel- 
lence of His nature, possessed of every 
perfection, intellectual and moral, in the 
highest possible degree, and hence entitled 
to the adoration and most profound vene- 
ration of angels and men. His name should 
never be pronounced by any but with awe, 
and our whole conduct should testify that 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 17 

we are deeply sensible of His presence at 
all times, and that of all things, we the 
most desire His favor and dread His dis- 
pleasure. 

While the holiness of God does at some 
times suggest the idea of greatness or 
majesty, which is an object of fear to a 
guilty man, more than love, yet, it does 
no less signify the purity and rectitude of 
God. This is its meaning in the following 
passage : " As He which hath called you 
is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of 
conversation; because it is written, be ye 
holy, for I am holy. 55 — 1 Pet. i, 15-16. 
There would be no strength in the exhor- 
tation, if the holiness of God in this pas- 
sage was something other and different 
from that required of us; the holiness of 
God is in this case referred to as the pattern 
of that holiness which we must possess to 
be happy, as also it is given as the reason 
why we should be holy. When we call 



18 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

God holy, we mean to affirm His infinite 
perfection of character and nature ; that 
He is perfectly free from the slightest 
pollution ; that His will is always con- 
formable to the rectitude of His own 
nature, so that impurity is the invariable 
object of His hatred, and purity of His 
approbation. We may hence define the 
holiness of God to be the perfection of 
His nature which determines Him to do, 
or will nothing that is not worthy of 
Himself, and to suffer nothing in His crea- 
tures which has not the same character ; 
that is, He will either prevent it by His 
grace, or punish it by His immutable jus- 
tice. 

The holiness of God is commonly rep- 
resented as a distinct perfection of His 
nature, such as is His wisdom, power, 
goodness, or truth. But I am of the 
opinion, that we should never take this 
view of the subject. We should consider 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 19 

holiness as a complex term, which does 
not express a single perfection, but the 
general character of God as resulting from 
the whole of His moral perfections. The 
holiness of God, therefore, is not, nor can 
it be, something different from the tran- 
scendent excellence of His all glorious 
nature, but is the term by which we say 
at once all that can be said of the perfec- 
tion of the divine nature and character. 
To call God holy, is to affirm that He 
renders to all His creatures their dues, and 
that He governs them by laws adapted to 
their natures and relations ; that He is full 
of benevolence, and takes pleasure in ren- 
dering them happy, as they are all the 
subjects of His goodness; that He deals 
sincerely with them, and never amuses 
them with fallacious hopes, nor terrifies 
them with immaginary fears. As a just 
Being, He abhors fraud, robbery, oppres- 
sion, every infraction of the rights of one 



20 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

man by another, and every attempt to 
deprive him of his due. As a good Being, 
He abhors selfishness, hard-heartedness, 
malignity, cruelty, and all the thoughts, 
words, and deeds which are contrary to 
charity. As a Being of truth, He abhors 
falsehood, perjury, treachery, calumny, 
and in short, every species of deceit. As 
a Being of holiness, He loves every thing 
that is conformable to His law, and hates 
every thing that is contrary thereto. The 
nature of God is pure as is the light : " For 
God is light, and in Him is no darkness at 
all." — 1 John, i, 5. Here you may see, 
as it were, the outlines of the eternal rec- 
titude of the nature and character of our 
God. Holiness, as I have said, is the 
general name for the moral excellence of 
the divine nature; whatever, therefore, 
may be resolved into, or comprizes a con- 
stituent part of holiness, God loves and 
requires, and whatever is contrary thereto, 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 21 

He hates and forbids. Holiness in angels 
and men is well pleasing to Him, for it is 
conformable to His nature ; but He hates 
sin and wickedness, because, in His nature, 
there is an eternal repugnance thereto. 
But, how is the holiness of God mani- 
fested ? The holiness of God is manifested 
in His works and dispensations, in nature 
and in grace. It was displayed in the 
formation of man. He was not only made 
a living soul and endowed with intellectual 
powers, but the image of his Maker was 
impressed likewise upon his nature, which 
consisted in the entire rectitude of his 
moral nature and character. The ray was 
as bright as the sun from which it emana- 
ted, and man w T hen he came from the hand 
of his Creator, was resplendent with the 
reflection of His moral excellence. There 
was no weakness in his constitution, no 
irregular desire, no proneness to sin, but 
he was pure and holy in all his parts. His 



22 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

appetites were not at war with reason, and 
struggling to free themselves from the 
restraints it imposed ; there was no law in 
his mind to which all his internal and 
external movements were not conformable. 
"God made man upright." This was the 
state in which he found himself at his 
creation, and in this state he had the 
power to continue; for his moral power 
was sufficient to all the purposes of his 
moral relationship and responsibilities to 
God, and His moral government over him ; 
for there was adaptation between his moral 
nature and the nature of the law by which 
he was to be governed. 

It is true, he was liable to be tempted, 
but there was no principle within himself 
which could in any way co-operate with 
the temptation, and facilitate its success. 
God in making man, determined to make 
a being who should be possessed with the 
power of choice, and upon whose choice 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 2^> 

should be suspended his present and ever- 
lasting happiness, or misery. The fall of 
man was not a part of His system, but one 
of those contingent events incidental to a 
system such as ours. God could not make a 
moral agent in a confirmed state ; every 
such agent must have a state of trial, during 
which he performs a test act, and this must 
be performed without restraint or con- 
straint, otherwise it cannot be a voluntary 
act — and if not voluntary, the agent is not, 
nor can he be held accountable for it, so 
that you can neither call it virtue nor vice 
in the agent. But the quality of the act 
is referable to the superinducing power, be 
that what it may. The fall of man, there- 
fore, was not for the want of any thing 
that God ought to have done for him, but 
failed to do. He yielded to the solicita- 
tion not because his understanding was 
insufficient to detect the sophistry of his 
adversary, or because the sensitive part of 



24 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

his nature was too strong for the rational. 
His compliance in either of these cases 
would have been necessary, and hence not 
culpable. He yielded, because he attended 
to the temptation alone, and disregarded 
the considerations which would have coun- 
teracted its influence ; hence his fall was 
his voluntary act, for w^hich God, as He 
justly may, holds him responsible. When 
we look at this subject as we should, we 
see that God is not indifferent about holi- 
ness or vice, and that neither has a pre- 
ference in his mind. No, no ; but, you see 
man at first created in the image of God — 
a manifest expression, this, of His attach- 
ment to holiness, and its necessity to man's 
present or eternal happiness 

Let us now take a view of the law under 
which man was at first placed, and it will 
furnish us with an additional manifestation 
of the holiness of God. Its design was to 
keep man in a state of purity, by proposing 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 25 

to him such considerations as were calcu- 
lated to operate upon his rational nature. 
While it impressed him with a sense of 
duty, it stimulated him to obedience by 
the promise of reward, and opposed to the 
temptations with which he might be as- 
sailed, the dread of punishment. In pla- 
cing man under a law thus strengthened by 
promises and threatenings, we see a proof 
both of the care God had, and still has, for 
man, and His sacred regard for holiness, 
the interests of which He took measures at 
this early period to promote. The law 
was communicated to man, and a sense of 
its authority impressed upon his heart in 
the first moment of his existence. God 
did not suffer him to live a day or an hour 
without a moral law, and the first exercise 
of his faculties was an act of obedience. 
The holiness of God appears not only in 
the general design of the law, but more 

especially in the nature of its precepts. 

2 



26 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

This law is a strict unvarying rule, enjoin- 
ing every thing true, and just, and lovely, 
and of good report. Its tendency is to 
produce in us, according to our measure, 
the same moral excellence which is the 
glory of the great Creator. This law is an 
eternal, immutable, and absolute principle 
of moral government, binding all the sub- 
jects of God's moral government to holy 
obedience. They, not being now in a 
condition to render that obedience, does not 
alter the case in the least, if, when God at 
first placed them under the law they were 
adapted to the nature and claims of the 
same. Their want of such adaptation at 
present is the result of their voluntary 
actions ; and hence the law is not weakened, 
nor its claims lessened by the fall, nor, yet 
by the provisions of the gospel. The law 
remains as it was, it is no less the duty of 
man to love, serve, and obey God now, 
than when first he was created. The 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 27 

gospel provision is a system of grace de- 
signed to bring man back in his moral 
nature to the nature of the law, and once 
more prepare him to render obedience 
thereto in all its divine claims over him as 
the creature of God. To resurrect his 
fallen nature, and bring him back to the 
nature and likeness of the law of God, by 
the provisions of the gospel, is the only 
way to secure his happiness in time or in 
eternity. On the moral character of man, 
therefore, when thus elevated to the nature 
of the law, will shine most brilliantly the 
image of God. He who loves and obeys 
this law, is an imitator of God. 

The purity of the law appears in its for- 
bidding sin in all its modifications, in its 
most refined as well as in its grosser forms ; 
the taint of the mind, as well as the pollu- 
tion of the body; the secret approbation 
as well as the external act ; the transient 
look of desire, the almost unperceived 



28 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

irregular emotion. While it commands us 
to place a guard upon the avenues by 
which temptation might enter, it enjoins 
the strictest care over the heart, and calls 
upon us to destroy the seed before it has 
time to grow. The law is holy, and the 
commandment holy. Nothing less will 
satisfy a law of this character, than purity 
of heart and life. Our Saviour, as we have 
intimated above, came not to promulgate a 
new law, milder in its claims and more 
adapted to the infirmity of our fallen nature, 
but to defend and establish the original 
one in all its purity and claims, and set a 
pattern of perfect obedience thereto. In 
vain, therefore, do we wash the outside of 
the cup and platter, if the inside be full 
of corruption. The law of God informs 
us what He is, and what we ought to be 
that we may please Him. The statutes of 
the Lord are right ; the commandment of 
the Lord is pure ; the fear of the Lord is 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 29 

clean; the judgments of the Lord are true 
and righteous altogether ; moreover, by 
them is thy servant warned, and in keep- 
ing them there is great reward. Psalms 
xix, 8, 11. 

If we turn our attention to the dispensa- 
tions of Providence, we shall see further 
proofs of the holiness of God in the provi- 
dential government He exercises over men, 
especially over the righteous, the means 
which he takes to defend and protect them, 
and defend the purity and authority of His 
law. It may be remarked that amidst the 
wreck of our nature in the fall, there re- 
main some broken fragments of its former 
dignity; for conscience still continues to 
lift her voice in defence of the goodness 
and righteousness of the law, calls men to 
the performance of duty, and punishes their 
sin with remorse and fear. The operations 
of this faculty, both when it excites to the 
cultivation of holiness, and when it creates 



30 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

remorse and fear for not heeding its sugges- 
tions, are strong proofs that man was origi- 
nally created holy, and the power of reason 
shows that his nature was originally intel- 
ligent. I mention, in the next place, the 
means which have been employed to give 
more extensive and commanding authority 
to conscience. Such were the precepts of 
morality which were transmitted, from age 
to age, amongst almost all the tribes of 
men, by tradition, which thoughtful men in 
the heathen world discovered, and which, 
with all their imperfections, set bounds to 
the prevalence of vice, in some sort. I add 
further upon this subject, God, from time 
to time, raised up men among his favored 
people, who republished His broken and 
neglected law, in a manner fitted to arrest 
the attention of the most inconsiderate, de- 
nouncing his judgments upon the profane 
and wicked, and enforcing obedience by 
strong and urgent motives. It is of some 



HOLINESS OF GOD« 31 

consequence in our observations to notice 
the strong checks which He has placed 
upon sin, and the encouragements he has 
held out to the practice of duty ; for in 
these we clearly see His attachment to ho- 
liness. As He is the author of nature, of 
the human constitution, and of the world 
in which we live, in which chance has no 
place, we believe that he has and will con- 
tinue to govern, in all the affairs of this 
great moral system, by means and instru- 
mentalities adapted to the accomplishment 
of His mighty designs. Man cannot com- 
mit sin without experiencing pain and mi- 
sery. Consequences of a very different na- 
ture result from the performance of duty. 
In w T hat light shall we view this natural 
order of things, but as a declaration of the 
God of Nature, that virtue is pleasing and 
vice displeasing to Him ; that he is the 
friend of holiness and the enemy of sin ? 
We may collect his designs from His works, 



32 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

as well as from Revelation, and whether 
we look at the one or the other, we are 
struck with the truth that holiness is the 
object of His approbation, for in all the 
dealings of His providence we see good 
connected with the practice of it, and evil 
with the practice of vice. Why should 
He so act if He were not pleased with 
the practice of the one, and displeased 
with the practice of the other? In a 
word, the dispensations in which His 
judgments have been revealed, are but 
so many manifestations of His holiness, 
and His infinite abhorrence of sin. Why 
has He acted as if His own works 
were an abomination to Him, and by 
one sweep of His almighty power, drifted 
them almost all into eternity? Why did 
He overwhelm the old world with a de- 
luge ? Why did He consume cities with 
fire and brimstone? Why has He called 
for famine, and pestilence, to sweep away 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 33 

the human family by thousands? What 
means the heat of this great anger? Is 
it that God is delighted in the suffer- 
ings of His creatures? No! NO!! It 
is a vindication of His holiness; a de- 
monstration of His eternal hatred to sin. 
The notion, therefore, entertained by sonie, 
that God is too good and holy to punish 
his feeble creature — man, is as false in 
fact as it is in theory. God has in this 
way vindicated His love of holiness from 
the creation until now, and it still re- 
mains true, that He is to the wicked 
as a consuming fire. It is, hence, a fear- 
ful thing for the wicked to fall into 
the hands of the living God. 

The holiness of God shines with pecu- 
liar luster in the great economy of sal- 
vation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
It has dispelled the dark cloud which 
sin had thrown over the character of 

God, and has revealed Him in all His 
2* 



34 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

glory as the governor of the world. Let 
me here remind you, that one design 
of this dispensation was to show what 
man was in the original formation of his 
moral character, and what it must be- 
come in order to be acceptable to God, 
and derive permanent happiness from Him 
as the chief good. With this in view, 
He sent His own Son into the world, 
" in the likeness of sinful flesh," but 
without the slightest stain of depravity. 
Upon this man, the image of God — with 
w r hich Adam was originally adorned — 
was fully and distinctly impressed, and 
in Him all the virtues that originally 
adorned human nature, shone most bril- 
liantly; and hence, He is the great ex- 
ample unto which all good people are 
destined to be conformed. The holiness 
of God w^as displayed in the public ap- 
probation of our Saviour by a voice from 
the excellent glory proclaiming the Fa- 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 35 

ther well pleased with Him ; and this 
testimony was borne to Him because He 
was holy. But His death more parti- 
cularly sets forth God's regard for holi- 
ness; the immediate design of which, 
was to make atonement for sin : the ulti- 
mate design, the sanctification of men ; 
their restoration to that state of purity 
from which they had fallen. The means 
were of the most wonderful character: 
the substitution, obedience, and sufferings 
of a divine person — the Son of God — the 
crucifixion of the Lord of Glory; from 
these means we judge of the importance 
of the end. We infer that holiness is 
infinitely pleasing to Him, or He never 
would have resorted to this extraordi- 
nary method of discovering it to the uni- 
verse, and re-establishing it in the world. 
" He gave himself for us, that He might 
redeem us from all iniquity, and purify 
unto himself a peculiar people, zealous 



36 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

of good works." — Tit. ii, 14. In His 
death He satisfied justice, and so remo- 
ved the legal objections to the sinner's 
salvation, as that, God may now graci- 
ously exercise His almighty power in 
rectifying the disorders of our fallen na- 
ture, and restoring it to its primitive 
rectitude and beauty. I shall mnv trace 
a few of the consequences of the death 
of Christ. A new system is introduced ; 
a new way of communication from the 
throne, to man, is opened ; a new agent, 
the Holy Spirit, commences his opera- 
tions upon the soul. It is that Spirit 
w T ho moved originally upon the dark 
abyss, and impregnated it with life, per- 
forms the nobler work of regeneration ; 
in which old things pass aw r ay and all 
things become new. What is the aim 
of His conviction for sin ; of that light 
He pours into the mind ; and His mys- 
terious operations upon the thoughts, 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 37 

volitions, and feelings; of the comforts 
with which He furnishes the believer; 

of his admonitions, counsels, and re- 
proofs ; of His excitements to prayer, 
vigilance, and activity — I ask, what is 
the meaning of all these varied influ- 
ences, if it is not intended to produce, 
at least, a gradual assimilation to our 
Maker ; to refine us from moral pol- 
lution, that we may finally appear before 
Him without spot or wrinkle ? All the 
holiness that is to be found in our de- 
generate world, proceeds from the inspi- 
ration of the Holy Spirit ; for He is 
the regenerating Spirit, and is conduct- 
ing His great work of purifying, and 
will continue until these words are ful- 
filled : "Nevertheless, we, according to 
the Scriptures, look for new heavens and 
new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous- 
ness." — 2 Peter, iii, 13. He will con- 
tinue to exert His power until His work 



38 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

is finished ; and then all the blood re- 
deemed ones will be fair as in Para- 
dise, and their condition much more per- 
manent, as their time of trial will have 
been ended, and they confirmed in Christ 
to eternal life ; they will then be bright 
as the angels, and glorious even in the 
eyes of God himself. Redemption will 
terminate in the everlasting triumph of 
holiness. This is to be seen in the de- 
signs asserted in the judgment of the last 
great day. The Son of man shall send 
forth His angels, and they shall gather 
out of His kingdom all things that of- 
fend, even them that do iniquity, and 
shall cast them into a furnace of fire, 
there shall be wailing and gnashing of 
teeth. Then shall the righteous shine 
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their 
Father. 

As a proof of the holiness of God, 
He has made it an indispensable prere- 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 39 

quisite to a state of happiness in His 
kingdom. The great system of God's 
grace through our Lord Jesus Christ, is 
designed, in its application to man, to 
purity his conscience from the guilt of 
sin ; this it does when he believes with 
all the heart, in Christ, and by faith 
makes a personal appropriation of the 
grace of God to his heart : but the work 
of sanctification, progressive in its nature, 
must continue until the whole work of 
grace is completed in the entire puri- 
fication of heart and life, which takes 
place just before death, when the entire 
will is swallowed up in the will of 
God, and the soul is tledged by His 
grace for its residence in the heavenly 
Canaan, where God unveils His eternal 
glory to His redeemed and sanctified ones. 
The life of the Christian is acceptable 
to God, not because the law of God 
does not require a higher degree of 



40 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

righteousness than he has rendered to 
it, but because he has, by faith, identi- 
fied his character with the righteousness 
of Christ, and by so doing, the guilt, 
strength, and pollution of sin in him have 
been destroyed. The Christian's title to 
the favor of God, is founded upon his 
personal connection with the righteous- 
ness and blood-shedding death of Jesus 
Christ. But infinite as is His merit, and 
powerful as are His intercessions, they 
can not avail to any who do not, by 
faith, identify their soul's salvation with 
Christ, but continue obdurate in sin. Says 
Christ, " Ye are my friends if ye do 
whatsoever I command you." — John xv, 
15. The faith with which salvation is 
connected, is not a mere assent of the 
mind to the doctrines of religion, but 
it associates the heart with the under- 
standing, and diffuses a living influence 
over +he powers of the soul, and enlists 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 11 

them all into the service of God. Such, 
also, is the influence exerted by hope ; 
for, says the Apostle, "Every one that 
hath this hope in him, purifieth himself, 

even as He is pure." Neither faith nor 
hope — such as I have attempted to de- 
scribe — has any place in an unregene- 
rate man: in all such, any imitation of 
the above graces, is deceit, a base coun- 
terfeit, with which those are amused who 
are attached to the pleasures of this world. 
The beatific vision is promised only to 
saints. " The pure in heart shall see 
God." In this world there is a mixture 
of moral good and evil ; but in Heaven 
there is no such mixture, for the king- 
dom of darkness is separated therefrom 
by an impassable gulf. God's holiness 
will forever bar sin and pollution from 
this place of purity and consequent hap- 
piness. "There shall in nowise enter 
into it anything that defileth, neither 



42 SOVEREIGNTY A.ND 

whatsoever worketh abomination, or ma- 
keth a lie ; but they which are written 
in the Lamb's book of life." — Rev. xxi, 
27. "Blessed are they that do his com- 
mandments, that they may have right to 
the tree of life, and may enter in through 
the gates into the city. For without are 
dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, and mur- 
derers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth 
and maketh a lie." — Rev. xxii, 14-15. 
The felicities of the inhabitants of this 
place will arise, in part, from their per- 
fection of moral character, the order of 
their faculties, and their exercise upon 
the noblest subjects. There will be no 
promiscuous admission into that glorious 
place ; but the society will be select ; its 
members are fitted for their place and 
employ. When, therefore, the throne of 
God is surrounded by millions of angels, 
who kept their first estate, and of human 
beings who have been redeemed by the 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 43 

precious blood of Jesus Christ, from their 
pollution, applied by the almighty opera- 
tions of the Holy Spirit, He will once 
more rejoice in His works, and pronounce 
them very good. In all I have yet 
said, you see the holiness of God set 
forth ; whether you see Him in crea- 
tion, in His law, in His work of provi- 
dence, in the scheme of grace, or puri- 
fying the heart of man, and thus preparing 
him for his future state of glory. In all 
this, He shows and vindicates His char- 
acter, and establishes the truth, that He 
hates and punishes sin, and loves and re- 
wards holiness in earth and in Heaven. 
I have attempted to show in what sense 
God is holy, and have produced proofs 
that this excellence is justly attributed 
to Him. From this review, it appears, 
that He is the incomprehensible God 
whom we should love and adore. Lost 
as we are in the grandeur of His in- 



44 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

finite greatness, we are constrained to 
adopt the language of Zophar, and say, 
" Canst thou by searching find out God? 
Canst thou find out the Almighty unto 
perfection ? It is as high as Heaven ; 
what canst thou do ? deeper than Hell ; 
w T hat canst thou know? The measure 
thereof is longer than the earth, and 
broader than the sea." — Job xi, 7-9. 
The existence of God we are able to 
demonstrate by arguments which carry 
full conviction to our minds; but the 
manner of his existence surpasses our 
conceptions. All creatures had a begin- 
ning; but as He always will be, so He 
always has been- What do we know of 
a past eternal duration ? When we turn 
our thoughts to this subject, we are 
lost ; we are overpowered with an effort 
to comprehend that w T hich is absolutely 
incomprehensible. When we ask the ques- 
tion, What is God? we answer God is 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 45 

a Spirit, Infinite, Eternal, and Unchange- 
able in His being; Wisdom, Power, Holi- 
ness, Justice, Goodness, and Truth. But, 
after we have so answered, what do we 
know of God? He still remains the In- 
comprehensible I am, that I AM. 

The incomprehensibility of God, how- 
ever, is no reason why we should desist 
our inquiries upon this subject, and turn 
our thoughts and attention to other sub- 
jects of far less importance to us in time 
and eternity. It surely w x ould be extreme 
tolly to say, we can not acquire perfect 
knowledge, and hence we will make no 
effort to attain it in any degree. Partial 
knowledge, such as we can obtain on 
this subject, is beyond doubt, better than 
total ignorance ; for the knowledge that 
we may obtain on this subject, is, to us, 
of infinite consequence. The incompre- 
hensibility of God should teach us humi- 
lity, caution, and reverence. When in the 



46 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

course of our contemplations, we arrive 
at a conclusion that astonishes us, we 
ought not, for this reason, to reject it as 
false, or inconsistent, unless we had found 
out the Almighty unto perfection. And 
when revelation informs us of some fact 
that reason never could have discovered, 
and by which it may be perplexed, we 
should not pronounce it impossible, or 
false. If we do, we know not what w T e 
say, nor whereof we affirm. All confess 
that we have not, neither can have any 
knowledge of the essence of God ; all the 
knowledge, therefore, we have of Him, we 
gather from His works, as developments 
of what He is. Revelation is one of 
these w r orks, in which we learn more of 
God than in all things else. Let us not, 
therefore, presume to measure the infinite 
God by our finite powers of reason. 
" Surely," said Auger, " I am more 
brutish than any man, and have not the 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 47 

understanding "of a man. I neither learned 
wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the 
holy." Who hath ascended up into Hea- 
ven, or descended into Hell? Who hath 
gathered the winds in His fists? Who 
hath bound the waters in a garment ? 
Who hath established all the ends of the 
earth? What is His name, and what 
His Son's name, if thou canst tell." — 
Prov. xxx, 2-4. There is a vast diffe- 
rence between the knowledge of God in 
this life and that which will be en- 
joyed by the blood-redeemed in the life 
to come. Here, w r e see in part and know 
in part. There, w r e shall see as we are 
seen, and know as also we are known. 
But as our knowledge here should not 
be undervalued because it is imperfect, 
no more should our knowledge there be 
magnified beyond the reality. Some sup- 
pose our knowledge here, partial ; that is, 
imperfect — which is certainly true; for 



48 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

we only know in part, and are going 
on to know, hence our knowledge here 
is progressive ; but they say that our 
knowledge in the future will be perfect, 
or comprehensive. I know it is said, 
that then, we shall see face to face, 
and know even as we are known ; but 
from hence to infer that we shall know 
God as fully as He knows us, is to be 
misled by the sound of words, and not 
to attend to the restriction of the sense, 
as the subject necessarily requires. But, 
man in Heaven will be but man; and 
if so, his mind will still be finite, and 
so he can not yet comprehend the in- 
finite God. I admit, he will more fully 
comprehend Him than he here can. 

To comprehend God fully, man must 
become as God — infinite. I hence con- 
tend, that man's knowledge, even in 
Heaven, will be progressive. God will 
be eternally making developments of 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 49 

himself to the ransomed millions who 
surround His throne, giving to them in- 
creased knowledge of His perfections 
and glory, and so eternally increasing 
their happiness. With this view before 
us 3 we come to this conclusion, that 
their blessedness will never reach a limit, 
beyond which there is nothing to be dis- 
covered ; w^hen ages upon ages have passed 
away, He will still remain the Incom- 
prehensible and Eternal God. 

From this view, it follows, that He is 
the all-sufficient and essentially perfect 
One. All-sufficient to himself and His 
creatures. As the author of all things, 
He could receive nothing from another 
(for there was no other), nor could He 
be limited by another (when there was 
no other.) Being infinite, He is pos- 
sessed of all possible perfection. When 
He existed alone, He was all to himself. 
His love, His understanding, His enerr 



50 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

gies found an adequate subject of con- 
templation and affection in himself. Had 
He stood in need of anything external, 
He could not have been the indepen- 
dent, all-sufficient God of eternity. He 
created all things, and it is said, He 
created them for himself; but it was 
not to supply any defect in himself by 
them ; but that He might communicate 
life and happiness to angels and man, 
and admit them to the contemplation 
of His glory. He demands the services 
of His intelligent creatures whom He 
has endowed with powers which qualify 
them for the duties enjoined ; but He 
derives no benefit from their good offices, 
and all the advantages redound to them- 
selves. He expects His creatures to glo- 
rify Him ; but, then, is He like a poor 
mortal, who lives upon the admiration 
and praise of his followers ? The glory 
which He requires, is merely the devout 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 51 

acknowledgment of the infinite excellence 
of which He was possessed before there 
was an eye to behold Him, or a mind 
to contemplate Him. He loves His crea- 
tures ; but then, there is no mixture of 
selfishness in that love ; He desires their 
happiness, but it is from benevolence, 
and not to add to His own. As an 
infinitely perfect Being, He has all His 
resources in himself. Creatures can give 
Him nothing, for all that they possess 
is already His ; and they can take no- 
thing from Him whose existence is neces- 
sary and immutable. 

God is all-sufficient to His creatures ; 
they live, move, and have their being in 
Him. His arm sustains, His goodness 
supplies, and His wisdom guides them. 
It is owing to His care that the great 
system of nature is supplied, and its laws 
continue to operate for the general good. 
All the happiness that is enjoyed by the 



52 SOVEREIGNTY AND 

different families of His creatures, emi- 
nates from His ever flowing bounty. 
Happiness of the most ordinary charac- 
ter, such as is experienced through the 
senses, is the fruit of His beneficence, no 
less than that which is communicated 
through intellect and reason. He fur- 
nishes all, all the sources of happiness 
to His creatures, from the angel to the 
insect. All are by Him furnished with 
the means of happiness — not even the 
most inconsiderable insect is neglected 
or overlooked ; neither is this bounty of 
His ever exhausted ; it is continued from 
day to day, and from year to year. When 
one generation passes away and another 
comes forth, the store-house of His pro- 
vidence is as well supplied for them as 
it w r as for their predecessors. 

The all-sufficiency of God ought now 
to be considered with special reference 
to man and the interests of his death- 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 53 

less soul. It is true, the happiness of 
mind consists in the enjoyment of God. 
His favor is life, and His loving kindness 
is better than life ; He is the portion of 
the soul : this intimates that the impres- 
sions of His love, the manifestations of 
His glory, are the chief objects of his 
desire, and the sources of its highest satis- 
faction ; nothing below this can satisfy the 
aspirations of an immortal soul. He who 
is possessed of this portion, has found 
that good of which the wise men of 
ancient times dreamed and talked, but 
the nature of which they did not un- 
derstand ; that good which the soul of 
man was created to enjoy, and for which 
it feels a thirst that all the streams of 
nature can never satisfy; in God alone 
is that thirst assuaged; this is the good 
that comprehends all good, and with 
which, none may be compared ; after 
enjoying which, none other will ever 



54 SOVEREIGNTY AJSD 

be desired, and which will continue 
from age to age to impart joy ever full 
and ever new. So satisfied is He that 
He envies no man, how T ever prosperous, 
because He knows no man who has 
such reason to be satisfied, but the man 
who has been equally prudent and wise 
in his choice. The Christian's inheri- 
tance is entire. " Thou, O Lord, shalt 
endure. 55 

The all-sufficiency of God secures the 
undecaying felicity of the saints. An 
earthly portion is wasted by use, and 
many men who spend youth in abun- 
dance, in old age suffer in penury and 
w^ant. Infinite perfection can not be ex- 
hausted. Giving doth not impoverish it, 
no more can withholding enrich it ; it is 
an inexhaustible store. If it be true 
that the saints will not be stationary in 
their knowledge and happiness in the fu- 
ture world, it follows that their change 



HOLINESS OF GOD. 65 

and progress will be from good to better, 
and better still; an expansion of their 
noble faculties, and a perpetual accession 
to their bliss. There is a fountain of 
living water in Heaven, because God is 
there in all the fullness of His love ; a 
fountain that sends forth its streams of 
purity, unimpaired, and undecaying, to 
all eternity. What scenes of untold bliss 
will be enjoyed by those who, in this life, 
consecrated themselves to the service of 
that God who is ever pleased with the 
practice of holiness in His creatures. In 
the great day of eternity, God will vindi- 
cate His holiness, in showing favor to the 
good, and punishing the wicked with un- 
told anguish. God save us from the lat- 
ter, and give us part with the former. 



LECTURE II. 

THE WISDOM AND BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 



" Let us make man in our image, after our like- 
ness ; and let them have dominion over the fish of 
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the 
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creep- 
ing thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God 
created man in his own image, in the image of God 
created he him ; male and female, created he them." 
Genesis i, 26-27. 

The great objects in the creation of 
man, I suppose to be, the glory of God 
and the happiness of man. The first is 
secured, if we consider the thing formed, 
Man, the organical structure, the intel- 
lectual endowments, the moral sense, and 
the compound nature of soul and body, 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 67 

so organized and arranged as to be one, 
and yet, not amalgamated, or in any 
wise mixed in their parts or properties. 
The second is secured, if we consider 
that moral perfection in which he was 
made — the image of God — the nearest 
resemblance to God of any creature on 
earth. Man is inspired with holiness 
of moral character, and invested with 
dominion over the other creatures. [n 
this great charter, God has invested man 
with certain rights which are not to be 
disregarded even by the Great Creator 
himself, although He is a Sovereign ; 
for this would be to do and undo; the 
work of folly, and not of wisdom. 

Of this, I shall consider more fully 
hereafter. 

Wisdom and knowledge are easily dis- 
tinguished, the one from the other : know- 
ledge is the comprehension of things as 
they are; wisdom is the arrangement of 
3* 



58 WISDOM AND 

our ideas in proper order, and in such 
a train as to produce some useful re- 
sult. The understanding is the faculty 
of knowledge ; but wisdom implies voli- 
tion, or a purpose to effect an end, and 
the choice of the means by which it 
shall be effected. In creatures, they are 
often separated; but in an all-perfect 
Being, they are necessarily united; Om- 
nicience supplies the materials of infinite 
wisdom. All nations have united in as- 
cribing wisdom to God, and they have 
been led to this conclusion by the ob- 
vious and manifold proofs of it as found 
in the things that be : finding it, in 
some degree, in man, they reason from 
the effect to the cause, and wisely con- 
clude that the effect can not be greater 
than the cause by which it is produced. 
This is certainly a safe way to reason, and 
by such a train of reasoning we may ar- 
rive at the truth. 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 59 

In this lecture I shall consider the 
wisdom and benevolence of God with 
reference to man as His creature, and 
as His sinful creature, 

Wisdom, as I have intimated above, 
consists in the choice of ends and suita- 
ble means to effect these ends; design 
simply implies that the agent has some 
object in view; and that the object is 
worthy of the agent and the means by 
which it is to be accomplished ; else, 
instead of pronouncing the agent wise, 
we call him a fool. But it may be 
said that we are not competent to de- 
termine what is proper for God to do, 
or what is worthy of Him — a Being 
so far removed from us in perfection 
and glory. We are ready at once to 
acknowledge our incapacity to enter fully 
into the designs of the divine mind; yet, 
what He has been pleased to reveal to 
us, we may and we ought to know ; hence, 



60 WISDOM AND 

when we see Him pursuing certain ends, 
there is no arrogance in saying that 
these ends are suitable to the dignity of 
His character as revealed to us. There 
is no arrogance in saying, that it is 
worthy of Him to glorify himself by 
the manifestation of His attributes ; to 
communicate life and happiness to other 
beings; to uphold the great moral sys- 
tem to which He has given birth ; and 
to promote the interests of righteous- 
ness and truth. These appear to be the 
very ends which are the objects of the 
divine dispensations; and we are so far 
from perceiving anything in them incon- 
gruous to the idea of an all-perfect Be- 
ing, that they harmonize with all our 
conceptions of the transcendent excellence 
of His character. 

Let us, in the first place, collect the 
proofs of wisdom from the visible crea- 
tion. " How manifold, O Lord, are thy 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 61 

works; in wisdom hast thou made them 
all, and the earth is full of thy riches." 
Psalm cix, 24. Instances of contrivance 
present themselves everywhere. In the 
examination of the works of nature, w r e 
observe a wonderful adaptation of one 
thing to another, with a view to the 
production of a particular result, and the 
same purpose accomplished by such a 
vast variety of means, as can not fail to 
convince us, that the whole is the work 
of an intelligent Being. Rich in coun- 
sel, and wonderful in working, and that 
all bear striking marks of the wisdom of 
the "only wise God." As the proofs 
of wisdom in creation constitute only 
one department of this subject, I can not 
allow myself to go into a minute detail, 
but must be content to give only a few 
particulars, and give but a general account 
even of these. I might refer you to the 
marks of design — which you see every- 



62 WISDOM AND 

where in the works of God — which prove 
an intelligent cause ; and it would be im- 
proper to pass over this part of the sub- 
ject without, at least, calling your atten- 
tion to it. 

Let us for a moment consider the 
arrangement of the system to which we 
belong. In the center is placed the 
sun, the great source of light and heat, 
who dispenses, without intermission, his 
influences to the surrounding planets 
which perform their revolutions around 
him. He at rest, they in motion; but 
they are retained in their paths around 
him by his masterly power over them, 
called attraction, and the mighty ma- 
chine is incessantly working without con- 
fusion, or the slightest deviation of any 
of its parts. How admirable the solar 
system as now understood! Time was 
when the wisest philosophers supposed 
the earth at rest, and the sun, con- 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 63 

taming so much more matter than the 
earth, daily wheeling his vastly rapid 
course around it : but by the develop- 
ments of mind and science, we have 
discovered the more consistent view of 
this magnificent system. By the motion 
of the earth, the purposes which were 
supposed to be accomplished by the 
motion of the sun, are effected in a much 
more simple manner. By its diurnal mo- 
tion around its own axis, its different 
parts of surface are brought alternately 
before the sun, and thus are the vicis- 
situdes of day and night produced — so 
necessary to the well being and happi- 
ness of the creatures which God has 
given place on the earth's surface. In 
the day, men and animals carry on their 
various operations, and vegetables are 
nourished by his rays, and adorned with 
beautiful colors ; in the night, all nature 
reposes in its darkness ; all nature, by 



64 WISDOM AND 

the shades of night, is refreshed and re- 
stored to healthful and vigorous action. 
Who does not see in this the wisdom 
of the great Creator? 

By the annual circuit of the earth, 
we enjoy the changes of the seasons, 
which delight us by a great variety 
of scenery, and is subservient to the pur- 
poses of vegetation, on which the life 
of all terrestrial animals depends. In 
winter, the earth rests and repairs its 
strength, and at the opening of spring is 
again ready for all its useful purposes; 
and thus it clothes the trees and fields 
with verdure, and rewards the husband- 
man for all his labor and care. I may 
be permitted to remark, that God has 
placed the earth in its present relative 
position to the sun, neither nearer to nor 
more distant from him with an exact 
adaptation of its inhabitants to this posi- 
tion: the inhabitants of earth, with their 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 65 

present adaptation, brought nigher to, 
would suffer with perpetual heat; thrown 
more distant from, would suffer from eter- 
nal snow and ice ; but as it is, there is 
adaptation. This is but another mark of 
the wisdom of God. The earth itself is 
fitted, by the w r isdom of God, to all the 
purposes contemplated in its formation. 
It is composed of various substances adap- 
ted to various uses; but what I wish you 
more particularly to mark at present, is 
its surface. Had the earth been marble 
or sand, it would have been unfit for the 
habitation of man or beast, because it 
could not have afforded the means of sub- 
sistence; but the surface is a soft mold, 
adapted to all the purposes of vegetation ; 
a large portion of it being covered w T ith 
water, forms no objection; this furnishes 
a means, by commerce, to bind all the 
parts of this earth together; besides, it 
is the unfailing source of those exhala- 



66 WUJHSM AM 

tions which descend upon us id rain and 
dew ; and as the quantity of these, on the 
whole, is not more than sufficient to sup- 
ply n ra iid springs, and to nourish 
herbs and plants, and all the products of 
the earth, the wisdom of G -een in 

the adaptation of one part of the earth's 
:ace to the other. 

Lc: us now take a view oi the living 
creatures inhabiting earth, an hall 

r many i f the wisdom of God 

in the format even their bodies — 

and especiall hu own — v ac- 

cording to a divine writer, is " fearfully 
and wonderfully made/ 7 In considering 
man as ^ amidst 

which he is placed, we can not tail to 
apprehend a wise adaptation between him 
and those objrc:-. H- is furnished with 
organs ot sense — »i arc all other ani- 
mals — to pereei m ; and what 
more in hi- &se, he can discern the 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 67 

qualities of those objects. This is neces- 
sary, not only for his comfort, but his 
very existence. When we examine these 
organs, the ear, the eye, the taste, the 
smell, and touch, both the design and 
the workmanship are calculated to ex- 
cite the highest admiration. We can 
not tell how we hear, see, taste, smell, 
or touch ; that is, how r the peculiar sen- 
sation is produced, but we see an ob- 
vious design in them all, to accomplish 
each its appropriate office. The objects 
accomplished by means of the senses, 
prove that they are not the results of 
chance, but of a divine hand, guided by 
infinite wisdom. When we proceed in 
the examination, the evidences of wisdom 
multiply upon us, and are overpowering. 
What a variety of functions is performed 
by this body, organized as it is ! What 
a provision of means and instrumentali- 
ties! How prompt in their offices, and 



68 WISDOM AND 

yet how delicate in their structure! The 
bones give stiffness; the joints qualify it 
to bend and yield to convenience ; the 
muscles, fastened to the bones, are but 
so many elastic springs to produce mo- 
tion and give symmetry; the waste to 
which the body is subject, is repaired 
by its capacity to receive and digest 
food, and convert it into its own sub- 
stance, and by a curious apparatus, the 
aliment is distributed to every part of 
the frame — the expenditure is constant, 
and so is the supply. We can not live 
without air, so respiration is carried on 
by the mouth and lungs. The blood cir- 
culates by day and by night, and the 
secretions go on with perfect regularity 
when not interrupted by disease. There 
is one proof of the wisdom of God which 
I must not fail to mention, and that is, 
while some of the operations which are 
necessary to our well being are dependent 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 69 

upon our own will, others of equal im- 
portance are involuntary. We respire, 
the blood flows, and many other pro- 
cesses are continued in sleep as well as 
when w r e are awake, for this obvious rea- 
son, the suspension of them would be fatal 
to life. God has, therefore, reserved them 
in His own hand; for He never slumbers 
nor sleeps, but lives and acts in every 
place, and at all times. There is mani- 
fest wisdom in this arrangement. Man is 
left to do what he can for his own com- 
fort; but when his power is inadequate, 
another agency interposes to perfect the 
design. In many instances, the structure 
of the bodies of the lower animals re- 
sembles ours ; and where a difference 
exists, it is but an additional evidence 
of the wisdom of God in adapting them 
to their mode of life. 

We might strengthen this argument 
by a review of the intellectual and ac- 



70 WISDOM AND 

tive endowments of the human mind, 
from which it would appear with how 
much wisdom they are adapted to the 
condition of man as an inhabitant of 
this world, and as in a state of pre- 
paration for a state of future and higher 
existence. His mental frame is no less 
wonderful than his corporeal. Wherever 
we have, as vet, turned our eyes, we 
have been struck with the wisdom of 
God ; but let us trace the wisdom of 
God, in the second place, as seen in His 
natural and moral government, as con- 
ducted by His immediate but invisible 
agency, and by the instrumentality of 
second causes, or the combined agency 
of men. So far as Providence is con- 
cerned in upholding the material system, 
and the living creatures which are void 
of reason, it is the continued exercise 
of that power by which they were at 
first brought into being. I shall not, 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 71 

in tli is review, call your attention to this 
part of the subject particularly ; but I 
shall confine myself, and your attention, 
to God's government over men, consi- 
dered as moral agents, as beings pos- 
sessed of reason, will, and active pow r ers. 
This, therefore, will lead me to con- 
sider the wisdom of God with reference 
to man as His creature. God said in 
the beginning, " Let us make man ; let 
us make him in our image.*' And thus 
He made him. I have said in a former 
lecture, " that God, as a Sovereign in 
creation, had a right to make whatever 
seemed good in His sight, and to make 
it just as His wisdom might dictate, and 
His benevolence prompt." But I like- 
wise said, " that as a Sovereign, He had 
no right, after making man as He did, 
subject to, and capable of, moral govern- 
ment, and placing all his interests in the 
hands of one man under the form of 



72 WISDOM AND 

federal government, to damn him with- 
out giving him a fair and equitable test 
of personal agency." It must be admit- 
ted, that if God is infinite in His wisdom, 
He knew just as well before He made 
man how he would act, as He did after 
He had made him ; and if so, He made 
him in view of all the circumstances that 
have been attendant upon him through 
his w r hole history. A moral agent, who 
is not independent, and absolute, may 
change. God being the only such agent, 
is the only one but that may change in 
some sort. When, therefore, God at first 
made man, He did not, nor could He, 
have made him in a confirmed state, 
and made him, at the same time, an 
agent capable of virtue and happiness 
as the rew r ard of that virtue ; for all 
his acts of virtue would be referable 
to a superinducing power, and the quali- 
ty of the act must be referred to the 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 73 

producing power, and not to the instru- 
ment. 

All things are known to God, from 
the beginning to the end ; He, there- 
fore, has no need to wait until a certain 
event is accomplished before He can 
adjust the following; but in His infi- 
nite knowledge, that which is to fol- 
low is as certainly known as that which 
is passed. v If the will of God is the 
efficient agent in all the acts of men, 
and mind is only the instrument, and 
hence not subject to the control of 
moral law, then no one, in speaking of 
man, may apply to him the terms will, 
virtue or vice, right or wrong, innocence 
or guilt, for his actions are but the re- 
sults of a superinducing power, and, as I 
said before, are referable to that power. 
In this event, the will of God alone is 
the pivot on which the present and eternal 
destiny of man turns. 
4 



74 WISDOM AND 

No man will deny but that God, in 
the government of His natural kingdom, 
exercises His physical omnipotence. This 
is His ability to do anything which may 
be done by the exercise of direct power. 
But to confound this with His power to 
govern mind by moral law and moral in- 
fluence, is to err exceedingly, not know- 
ing the Scriptures nor the power of God. 
How, for instance, would the ten com- 
mandments apply to the unconscious solar 
system? Sun, earth, moon, or stars, thou 
shalt love the Lord thy God, &c. As 
these are governed by physical power, 
they are necessary agents, that is, they 
perform their revolutions by fixed laws 
established by the absolute power of God, 
and hence are not accountable for their 
actions, neither are they capable of vice 
or virtue, and are, therefore, not capable 
of happiness or misery. But mind can 
not be governed by physical power This 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 75 

is known by its nature. The laws by 
which mind and matter are governed, 
are just as different in their nature as 
the elements are to which they are ap- 
plied. Losing sight of this distinction 
can but bewilder, for no man can recon- 
cile accountability with fate. As well 
might God condemn this whirling earth 
for not making three hundred and seven- 
ty-five diurnal revolutions while perform- 
ing its circuit, as to condemn a moral 
agent for his actions, if all His volitions 
and actions are determined by His immu- 
table and absolute will; if He condemns 
the volitions and actions of such an 
agent, He but condemns His own voli- 
tions and actions — the agent being but 
the instrument by which He performs 
His volitions and actions. Will God hold 
man accountable for that which is una- 
voidable? Will God condemn him for 
doing that which he does by necessity? 



76 WISDOM AND 

Reason, common sense, conscience, and 
the Scriptures, say it can not so be. 
God's moral government over man is not 
resolved into a question of power. 

When God at first made man, He en- 
dowed him with will, reason, and active 
powers. This is contained in the senti- 
ment, " Let us make him in our own 
imasie and likeness." In what did that 
image consist? I answer, first, in his 
nature and constitution, not of his body, 
but of his soul, for God has no body. 
The soul is a spirit — an intelligent and 
immortal spirit — endowed by its Creator 
with reason, will, and active powers; 
herein is the brightest image of the Lord. 
" The spirit of man is the candle of the 
Lord." Second, in his place and au- 
thority. " Let him have dominion. 55 He 
is made sovereign over all below; yet, 
his government over himself, by the free- 
dom of his will, has in it still more of 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 77 

the image of God, and in this, is the 
true dignity of his nature, as a moral 
agent, seen. Third, in his purity and 
rectitude of character. God's image up- 
on man, consists in knowledge, righteous- 
ness, and true holiness. He had moral 
conformity in all his powers to the whole 
will of God. His reason saw divine 
things truly and clearly; his will com- 
plied readily and universally with the 
will of God ; his affections were all regu- 
lar, nor had he any irregular appetites or 
passions to control ; the image of God 
shone with peculiar splendor upon his 
immortal soul. God, as a Sovereign, had 
a right to make man bearing His own 
image ; but the question is, had He, as a 
Sovereign, a right to damn him bearing 
His own image — all things remaining as 
they were? If He had such a right, 
then as a Sovereign, He has the right 
to damn His own moral likeness at 



78 WISDOM AND 

any period, either in time or eternity, 
His rights being immutable; and there 
could hence be no security from this 
awful catastrophe in time or eternity, 
if bearing the image of God does not 
give this security, and that, too, by 
divine right. But this is not all. God 
at first placed the destiny of an unborn 
race in the hands of one man, under 
the form of federal government. This 
man had all the moral and intellectual 
capabilities to sustain their interests un- 
der that form of government, and so be- 
queath to that race all the untold bless- 
ings of purity and immortality, by fidelity 
to his federal charge; he likewise had 
the capacity to bring upon them all the 
miseries of this life, and lay them liable 
to the horrors of the second death. The 
blessing or the curse grew out of the re- 
lation which subsisted between him and 
them ; he w^as not only their common 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 79 

father, but their federal head. This last 
relationship was constituted by law, which 
involved the interests of untold millions 
of human souls, hereafter to be born, 
both for time and eternity. This, too, 
was the plan of trial adopted by the 
infinite wisdom of the great God. Has 
He, as a Sovereign, a right to damn all 
the race for an event over w T hich they 
have not, nor ever had, any control, and 
in which they have acted no part? If 
so, He has a right to damn every in- 
fant dying in a state of infancy; yet, we 
all believe that they are saved, and we 
are warranted in that belief by the reve- 
lation which God has given us of His 
procedure in such cases. God, in the 
creation of man, has given a magnificent 
display of His wisdom, both in the man- 
ner of His creation and the form of 
government under which He placed him, 
with capacities adapted to the nature of 



80 WISDOM AND 

that government. Let no one say, that 
the want of capacity to comply with the 
terms of that government, is owing to 
the manner of his creation. It is the 
misapplication of that in which alone 
his true dignity as a man consists — 
his moral agency — and for which alone 
God holds him accountable for his ac- 
tions. 

Wherever you turn your thoughts — 
whether to nature or nature's God — you 
behold the marks of the most profound 
wisdom. God, in creation, by the exer- 
cise of His infinite wisdom, has secured 
the most complete order in the visible 
creation; and to man — being the only 
creature belonging to this system, capa- 
ble of conscious happiness — He has se- 
cured it by superadding to his intellectual 
nature, holiness, the perfection of mind. 
He has inseparably united holiness and 
happiness, so that the one may not be 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 81 

possessed without the other following in 
its train, for holiness is in order to hap- 
piness. Here the wisdom of God again 
shines forth with peculiar luster; for 
holiness secures that order which is the 
peculiar luster of the moral government 
of God. I have endeavored, thus far, 
to consider the wisdom of God in re- 
ference to man as His creature, and as 
His creature, subject to, and capable of, 
moral government, and the wise adapta- 
tion of all things in this great system. 

Let us next consider the benevolence 
of God. You must recollect that this 
is always directed by the wisdom of 
God to the most suitable means of ac- 
complishing its great objects. 

By the benevolence of God, we under- 
stand that principle of His nature which 
disposes Him to communicate happiness to 
His creatures. It is in this sense that \i e 
say it is one of His essential attributes. 



82 WISDOM AND 

It is necessary, with other attributes, to 
complete the idea of an all-perfect Be- 
ing, and is the foundation of the trust, 
love, hope, and joy, with which He is 
regarded by all good men. As sinners, 
we could only think of Him with dis- 
tant reverence, if we conceived that He 
took no interest in the well being of 
His creatures; and the supposition that 
He was actuated by r a principle of male- 
volence, would create a dread of One 
infinitely superior to us, from whom we 
could not escape. Were this the view 
which we were bound to take of Him, 
we should always fear and tremble when- 
ever the thought of Him came into our 
depraved mind. But the principle of 
benevolence in the Deity throws a mild 
and tranquilizing luster over the majestic 
attributes of His all-glorious nature. It 
presents them to us under a friendly as- 
pect ; associated with it, they appear as 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 83 

so many powers, by which its benignant 
designs will be carried into full effect. 
In this view of the subject, w r e look 
up to God, not merely as a Sovereign, 
but as a Father. We feel emotions 
of gratitude rising in harmony with 
sentiments of reverence and veneration ; 
we are hence enabled to supplicate His 
favor with confidence, and resign our- 
selves to His disposal. 

Benevolence being a disposition to com- 
municate happiness, in an intelligent agent 
it is always regulated by the exercise of 
wisdom ; and in a moral agent, by a re- 
gard to purity and justice. From a sur- 
vey of the dispensations of God, w r e learn 
that this attribute belongs to Him in each 
of the above senses. 

The benevolence of God is clearly de- 
ducible from creation. I can conceive 
of no other reason, aside from His own 
glory, for the exercise of His pow r er in 



84 WISDOM AND 

giving life to so many different orders of 
creatures, and adapting them all to their 
various modes of living, so as to derive 
happiness from the circumstances in which 
they are destined to move. God did not 
create by a necessity of nature, as the sun 
gives out light and heat, or as a foun- 
tain pours out its contents; but being a 
free and independent Agent, He created 
by counsel and design. His power is 
unbounded ; His wisdom infinite ; yet His 
benevolence is the source of all this great 
work. The prime motive, aside from His 
own glory, was benevolence : this led Him 
to provide for the order and happiness 
of all, and especially for His sentient 
creatures; upon this principle, therefore, 
we account for the happiness of the vari- 
ous tribes of living creatures. What other 
idea is suggested by the contemplation of 
a system so regular and beautiful in all 
its parts, and teeming with life and en- 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 85 

joyment? God, from His throne of uni- 
versal dominion, beholds a scale of beings, 
ascending from the insect to the seraph, 
all rejoicing in conscious existence, and 
partaking of the riches of His liberality. 
In these things, I see — or I think I 
see — a bright display of the unbounded 
benevolence of God. The eternal foun- 
tain has overflowed, and the universe is 
refreshed and gladdened by its majestic 
stream. If there is any feature in the 
divine nature more prominent than ano- 
ther in this great work, it is the bene- 
volence of God. This perfection may be 
inferred from the state in which living 
creatures are made. They are relatively 
perfect ; that is, they are fitted to their 
mode of life, and to fill their appropri- 
ate place in creation. 

The benevolence of God is seen in the 
abundant provisions He has made to meet 
and supply the wants of every living thing. 



86 WISDOM AND 

" The eyes of all wait upon thee ; and 
thou givest them their meat in due sea- 
son ; thou openest thy hand and satis- 
fiest the desire of every living thing. 5 ' 
Psalm cxlv, 15, 16. With the bounty 
and care of a parent, He provides for 
His numerous family. What a delight- 
ful view this, of the benevolence of God. 
[n the regular succession of the seasons, 
the opening buds and blossoms of spring, 
the luxuriant growth of summer, the ma- 
tured fruits and rich harvest of autumn, 
is seen the resplendant goodness of the 
Almighty. By this provision, God per- 
forms the task of providing those ample 
and varied feasts to which He invites 
all His living offspring. " O Lord, how 
manifold are thy works ; in wisdom thou 
hast made them all ; the earth is full 
of thy riches." Not only is the wis- 
dom of God displayed in these things, 
but His benevolence also. Hitherto, we 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 87 

have been considering the benevolence 
of God in a general sense. 

Let us now consider it with peculiar 
reference to man as the creature — and 
as the sinful creature — of God. When 
God at first made man, He knew — as I 
have before said that he would not 
continue in a state of conscious recti- 
tude, but that he would fall into sin. 
This being known, can the creation of 
man be reconciled with the divine bene- 
volence ? If the fall resulted from any 
deficiency in the powers of man to obey 
the law under which he was placed, or 
was superinduced by any agency of God 
exerted over him, directly or indirectly, 
it can not be reconciled with His bene- 
volence; but if this were the result of 
his own actions, having at the same 
time power to have prevented it by a 
different course of conduct, then all is 
easy. After He had made man as He 



88 WISDOM AND 

did — a moral agent — to say He might 
have prevented his fall, is only to say 
that He could have changed him into 
something other than what He had made 
him. All that He could do, was in the 
exercise of wisdom and benevolence, to 
provide a system, that upon the prin- 
ciples of good government he might be 
saved. The benevolence of God is seen 
in the covenant that He made with 
man, promising to rew r ard his obedience 
with everlasting felicity. This was the 
promise of boundless benevolence ; for his 
obedience could entitle him to no such 
reward but for some such promise on the 
part of his Maker. His obedience was 
a debt which he ow^ed to God, and 
hence, if he had fulfilled the whole law, 
he had only done his duty, and could 
have claimed no such reward. The cove- 
nant, therefore, displays great condescen- 
tion and benevolence in God, and a deep 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 89 

solicitude for the happiness of man. By 
man's folly, he lost the noble prize set 
before him; but the event does not in 
any wise obscure the benignity from which 
the offer of it proceeded; and at our dis- 
tance from the event, we ought to look 
back with grateful emotions upon the 
hope that animated our great progenitor 
in the commencement of his career, and 
the blessedness that through him might 
have descended as an inheritance to us, 
his children. The original state of man 
was a state of happiness. Peace and joy 
then reigned in his bosom, and a bright 
interminable prospect rose to his view. 
Nature was in harmony with his feelings, 
and was refulgent with the glory of his 
Maker. In Paradise — which the hand 
of God had prepared with infinite skill 
for his residence — all was beauty, melo- 
dy, and delight. The gentle breezes 
fanned the opening flowers; the unplowed 



90 WISDOM AND 

earth yielded its delicious fruits; the 
rivers flowed with milk and nectar, and 
honey distilled from the oak. But a 
new state of things calls for our atten- 
tion. This beautiful state of things has 
been defaced — Man has sinned ! ! Yet 
God has not withdrawn His benevolence 
from this mighty system. When God 
made man, He required that he should 
perform a test act, as needs he must, 
since He was dealing with a moral 
agent, upon whose agency depended his 
future and eternal happiness. This test 
act was perfect obedience to the law T of 
God, and to be performed under the free 
volitions of his own will. Two objects 
were placed before him- — good and evil: 
his obedience was encouraged by the pro- 
mise of reward, and guarded by the de- 
nunciation of threatenings ; both the one 
and the other prompted by the benevo- 
lence of God to guard his way to hap- 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 91 

piness. But man sinned : then God might 
punish him as seemed good in His sight; 
for he had had a fair and equitable test 
of moral agency. But He may not let 
him live and propagate his kind, and 
then damn them for what he had done 
before they were born. Hence, in the 
wisdom and benevolence of God, He pro- 
vides the great system of Gospel salva- 
tion, that He may treat with man ac- 
cording to the dignity of his nature as a 
moral agent, and again place him where 
he may have the privilege of perform- 
ing a test act, and thus give him a fair 
and equitable test of moral agency. God, 
as a Sovereign, has no more right to save 
man without his agency being tested, than 
He has to damn him. The great system 
of salvation and condemnation proceeds 
upon the principle, " Light has come into 
the world, and men love darkness rather 
than light." 



92 WISDOM AND 

You may here ask, how I account 
for the salvation of infants dying in a 
state of infancy, in view of the above? 
They are not moral agents, hence there 
is no test act necessary to their salva- 
tion ; yet they have immortal souls, which 
are corrupt and polluted, and this corrup- 
tion and pollution are in their case pas- 
sive — so they sustain a passive relation 
to the great system of Gospel salvation. 
They come into the world in a state of 
corruption, which they can not control, 
and if, before their moral powers are de- 
veloped, God in His providence deter- 
mines to remove them by death to the 
spirit world, He will sovereignly apply 
to them the cleansing efficacy of His 
grace ; and in doing so, He does not con- 
flict with the moral agency in the least. 
For, as I have before said, they are not 
such agents. But men are not infants ; 
they have developed the powers of moral 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 93 

agency, and God will deal with them as 
such ; hence the command, " Go ye into 
all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature; he that believeth and is 
baptised, shall be saved, and he that be- 
lieveth not shall be damned." 

Salvation originated in the benevolence 
of God, as well as creation. The permis- 
sion of sin by no means implies its ap- 
probation; the evils which it brings on 
man in this life, but demonstrate God's 
displeasure against it; and when we turn 
to His Word, we find Him speaking in 
terms of the utmost abhorrence against it. 
If, therefore, man was justly condemned, 
the notion of any obligation to relieve 
him must be given up forever: and we 
must conclude that whatever God does 
for his recovery, is of His own unbounded 
mercy, and must tend to His glory as well 
as to man's good. It is to the benevolence 
of God alone that we must attribute this 



94 WISDOM AND 

noblest of His works. Wisdom presides 
while benevolence prompts to this glorious 
work of salvation for our ruined race. 
The means by which this work was ac- 
complished, demonstrate how agreeable to 
God is the happiness of His creature, 
man — and how earnestly he desires it. 
Could a word save man from perdition, 
it- would be highly benevolent in God to 
pronounce that word? But salvation is 
not a work of words, or of physical Om- 
nipotence, nor of unrestrained benevo- 
lence, but a moral administration of means 
and agencies adapted to the condition of 
man as a fallen sinner, subject to, and 
capable of, moral government. It hence 
exhibits a combination of means illustra- 
tive of His wisdom and benevolence. 
" God so loved the world, that He gave 
His only begotten Son, that whosoever 
believeth in him, should not perish, but 
have everlasting life." — John iii, 16. In 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 95 

this passage of Scripture, you have the 
source, the love of God, the objects of 
His benevolence, the world, the gift of 
God, His Son, and the design of all of 
it, that they might have everlasting life. 
Faith in this, and in all similar passages, 
is made the test act upon which the en- 
joyment of this blessing depends. If we 
were prepared to comprehend how many 
and great are the blessings with which 
we are enriched, and how many and 
great are the evils from which we are 
delivered by this glorious system of 
God's mercy, then should we be able to 
understand, in some sort, the boundless- 
ness of God's benevolence to fallen man. 
But while we contemplate this mighty 
scheme, we are lost and overpowered by 
His matchless wisdom and unspeakable 
benevolence. 

Contemplate, if you please, what this 
system of things is to accomplish in time. 



96 WISDOM AND 

It is to vanquish and strip the last and 
dreaded foe of man of his spoils ; under 
its influence, the grave is to give up 
its dead; the earth is to be purified 
and renovated, and once more become 
the abode of innocence and joy; the 
choice of all generations are to be uni- 
ted in one glorious assembly; angels 
associated with men, and God himself 
come down to dwell with them. 55 — Rev. 
xxi, 34. Such is the delightful scene 
to which we are directed by prophecy. 
It is the reign of order and happiness, 
succeeding ages of turmoil and sorrow; 
it is an eternal spring, after a long, 
tedious, and dreary winter; it is the tri- 
umph of boundless benevolence, which 
will fill all holy beings with ceaseless 
happiness. 

" O that men would praise the Lord 
for His goodness and His wonderful 
works to the children of men.' 5 Gratir 



BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 97 

tude is the return justly due from 
creatures to God for His stupendous 
benevolence to them. But it is often 
withheld from our bountiful benefactor, 
for the reason, that His goodness is 
perpetual ; hence we do not seem to 
feel and appreciate it. The benevolence 
of God is impressed upon the character 
of all His works. It is one of the 
strongest reasons why we should love 
and serve Him ; and it renders those 
inexcusable who live without any ac- 
knowledgment of Him, or dare accuse 
His dispensations with unkindness. By 
the Gospel of the grace of God, life 
and immortality are brought to light. 
Man, by his own act, brought death 
and misery upon himself and posterity. 
But in the Gospel, we find a glorious 
system presented, which places in the 
offer of man everlasting life; and to se- 
cure which, he has but to perform a test 
5 



98 WISDOM AND BENEVOLENCE OF GOD. 

act, which is faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and then the bliss of eternal life 
is his. How wise and benevolent the 
plan! How easy and reasonable the terms! 
How rich the blessing! And shall any 
one at last be cast into that lake which 
burns with fire and brimstone? Into this 
subject we shall inquire in our next lec- 
ture. 






LECTUEE III. 

MAN'S MORAL AGENCY, AND THE FINALLY 
IMPENITENT SINNER'S DOOM. 



" And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 
Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat ; 
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, 
thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day thou eatest 
thereof, thou shalt surely die." — Genesis ii, 16, 17. 

In the garden, there were two fruitful 
trees, the one the tree of life ; that is, 
it was to man a pledge and seal of life 
and immortality : the other the tree of 
knowledge of good and evil ; that is, it 
was to man a test of moral agency and 
character. So long as he refrained from 
the latter, he had the evidence of con- 
scious innocence, and had freedom of ac- 



100 MORAL AGENCY AND 

cess to the former : but so soon as he 
partook of the latter, he forfeited his 
right to the former, and had evidence of 
conscious guilt. God, as a Sovereign, 
had a right to establish a test of moral 
agency and character for man, and also 
had a right to make that test whatever 
He chose, provided it did not conflict 
with any of man's chartered rights as a 
moral agent. It was God's right to give 
man a law by which he should be go- 
verned — yet so as that the moral nature 
of the law and man's moral nature and 
character as he was made, should corre- 
spond the one with the other. If there 
is not adaptation between the nature of 
man and the law by which God propo- 
ses to govern him, there is a manifest 
want of wisdom and benevolence in the 
arrangement. In this covenant there is 
a grant of confirmation in a state of 
permanent holiness and immortality, not 






DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 101 

only to himself, but also to his pos- 
terity. This, however, is pendant upon 
perfect obedience to the law of God. 
As yet, man has no personal character : 
all that he has is of Sovereign gift — 
which he received in his creation. In 
his probation, God requires that he shall 
adopt this gift by his own moral agency 
as his personal character; this is re- 
quired, that the bliss hereafter accruing 
to him may be regarded by him as the 
fruit of his own volitions and actions — 
vouchsafed to him by virtue of the divine 
promise. Without such promise, his voli- 
tions and actions could entitle him to no 
such bliss and immortality. All that he 
could do was his duty, and for doing 
this he could claim no such reward. 

God having finished all His other 
works, made man — and constituted him 
lord of all below. His body was made 
of the dust of the earth, and animated 



102 MORAL AGENCY AND 

by an intelligent and immortal soul. Be- 
sides the gift of reason — by which he 
was distinguished from the other inhabi- 
tants of earth — there was superadded true 
holiness, in which the image of God pro- 
perly consisted, and thus was he fitted to 
accomplish all the ends for which he 
was created, and in a peculiar sense to 
glorify the Great Author of his being. 
The happiness which he enjoyed was 
suited to his compound nature, w r hich 
derived pure pleasure from the contem- 
plation of the things w T ith which he was 
surrounded ; and still higher satisfaction 
from conscious rectitude, and a know- 
ledge of the favor of God. Placed in 
the fairest spot of earth, where his eye, 
his ear, and all his senses were delight- 
ed, he enjoyed high and sacred commu- 
nion with his Maker. 

Although man w T as holy, yet he was 
fallible — as every creature is. I do not 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 103 

say that every creature must fall into 
sin, but I do say, that the nature of a 
creature is not immutable, nor can it be 
so. Consequent, therefore, upon the crea- 
tion of an intelligent agent, is a liability 
to change from good to evil, from virtue 
to vice, and consequently, from happiness 
to misery; yet this is not a necessary 
consequence, but a mere liability. Nei- 
ther the power, the wisdom, nor the bene- 
volence of God, can change this liability; 
the only way to prevent it, is not to 
create such a being at all. The ques- 
tion then is, was God wise and benevo- 
lent in creating this great moral system? 
We have already attempted, in a former 
lecture, to illustrate these points. Muta- 
bility is inseparable from the idea of a 
created moral agent. Freedom of will 
implies the power of choice; that of two 
or more objects presented, the agent may 
choose either. If he may choose the 



104 MORAL AGENCY AM) 

one but not the other, then is he not 
free; nor does it matter whether the re- 
straint is owing to his nature or some 
secret agency exerted upon his will, the 
case is the same. The act is, therefore, 
not his voluntary act, but superinduced ; 
and hence he is but the passive instru- 
ment, and not the active agent. In this 
case he would be a creature totally dif- 
ferent from what man now is, or ever 
has been : he was, at first, and still is, 
endowed with liberty of volition and ac- 
tion. Upon this principle alone does God 
hold him accountable for his thoughts, 
words, and actions. We have no reason 
to suppose that this liberty will cease 
even in a confirmed state ; although the 
will invariably chooses that which is 
good, it is still most free in all its 
volitions. The confirmation of saints 
takes place by the consent of their own 
will, and they are still as free as ever, 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 106 

because they are what they are by their 
voluntary consent. If they can not sin, 
the reason is, they will not; they have 
voluntarily performed the test act, and 
have hence chosen the service of God 
for life, and godliness for time and eter- 
nity. Their choice in becoming Chris- 
tians, covers time and eternity. From 
these remarks, you may infer that the fall 
of man did not necessarily result from his 
original constitution; but his will being 
free, he might choose the evil and refuse 
the good, which first he did, as the sub- 
sequent history shows. 

As we have before said, man's original 
state w r as pure and holy. But it did not 
long continue. We have no reason to 
believe, as some suppose, that man sin- 
ned upon the day of his creation ; and 
we have just as little reason to suppose 
he retained his rectitude for years. The 
fine gold soon became dim ; the crown 
5* 



106 MORAL AGENCY AND 

soon fell from his head. There was but 
a short interval elapsed ere man incurred 
the displeasure of his Maker, and holi- 
ness — the beauty of his nature — was 
succeeded by the most revolting defor- 
mity, and he presented scarce anything 
but an awful wreck of depraved human 
nature, all of which resulted from his 
voluntary act, and from no deficiency of 
his nature ; nor yet from the exercise of 
any divine agency, directly or indirectly, 
superinducing this result. But, it may be 
asked, why did God bestow upon man a 
power, the abuse of which would bring 
such ruinous consequences upon himself 
and posterity, and so insult the authori- 
ty of God? This is the amount of the 
question : Why did God create a crea- 
ture capable of being the subject of moral 
government and moral law, and of ob- 
taining and enjoying a reward? Or, why 
did not God make man something other 






DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 107 

than He did? This is not only to call 
in question the benignity of God, but also 
to arraign His wisdom at the bar of our 
ignorance and presumption. Had he not 
possessed liberty of choice, he could not 
have rendered moral obedience ; he might 
have been so created as that he might 
have answered the end of his creation 
as the index of a clock or watch points 
out the hour of the day upon the dial 
plate ; but he would not, in this case, 
have been a man any more than a clock 
or watch is a man. There could have 
been neither virtue nor vice in his move- 
ments, and he would have, in this case, 
glorified God only as fire, hail, snow, 
and stormy winds glorify Him. As the 
heavens and the earth, with all their 
teeming inhabitants, glorified God after 
this manner, it was necessary — in order 
to perfect the design of Almighty God — 
to raise up a being who, knowing his 



108 MORAL AGENCY AND 

Maker, and approving His will, should 
execute His commands from design, un- 
der the influence of gratitude and love. 
To do this, he must be endowed with 
reason, will, and active powers, constitu- 
ting him at once a moral agent. Such 
is man, and as such, he is capable of 
good and evil, of happiness and misery. 
But do you ask why God permitted sin? 
Why do you not ask why did God make 
such a being as man? Then the senti- 
ment would stand thus : He whom we 
have been accustomed to regard as the 
crowning work of creation, was the only 
part of it w T hich impeached the wisdom 
and benevolence of its great Author. 
It is certain that God created man with 
freedom of will ; it is equally certain 
that man, in the exercise of this free- 
dom, lost his innocence and happiness, 
and upon this principle God holds him 
accountable for his conduct. 



DOOM QF THE IMPENITENT. 109 

Man being created a moral agent, was 
the proper subject of moral precept, and 
accordingly was placed under the law 
of God — the knowledge of which was 
impressed upon his mind at his crea- 
tion. This law T was virtually the same 
with that which was afterward engra- 
ven upon the tables of stone, and de- 
livered to Moses ; and has been the 
standard of duty to man in every age of 
the world. To all the precepts of the 
law he, was bound to render obedience; 
to do this, he was furnished with ample 
powers. God, however, suspended the 
test of his moral principles upon one 
positive command — and thus to deter- 
mine whether man's obedience was in- 
fluenced by His naked authority. You 
will hence perceive, that if God intended 
to make trial of this newly formed sub- 
ject, He could not have chosen a more 
propei method, as the command indicated 



110 MORAL AGENCY AND 

nothing hard or harsh ; but was admira- 
bly fitted to ascertain whether His sim- 
ple command would be to him instead of 
all other reasons for obedience. It is 
not a proper trial of reverence for a supe- 
rior when the action enjoined is recom- 
mended by a train of circumstances aside 
from His command. It is when it stands 
upon the sole foundation of His authori- 
ty; w T hen having no intrinsic goodness., it 
becomes good by His positive injunction ; 
when the only inducement to perform it 
is His authority. It is under these cir- 
cumstances that it is known whether we 
duly feel and recognize our moral de- 
pendance upon Him. The morality of 
an act does not hence depend upon its 
abstract nature, but upon its relation to 
the law of God. The injunction, there- 
fore, to abstain from the tree of know- 
ledge, was a proper trial of man's obedi- 
ence to the authority of his Maker ; and 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. Ill 

the violation of the command deserved 
the punishment which was threatened and 
executed upon him. This command tested 
the only thing to be tested, and that was, 
whether God's will was sacred to him 
above all things else. And he was pu- 
nished because he gave the preference 
to his own. The command was easy, 
yet it was soon broken. Man yielded 
to temptation, and thereby ruined him- 
self and posterity. Our first parents were 
guilty of sin in their hearts before they 
committed it with their hands. Their 
eating the forbidden fruit was only the 
outward expression of the vitiated state 
of their minds. The desire of know- 
ledge, by unlawful means, being indulged, 
disordered their whole moral constitution ; 
and they had already rebelled before they 
openly violated the command. " Lust," 
or desire, "when it hath conceived, 
bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is 



112 MORAL AGENCY AND 

finished, bringeth forth death." — James 
i, 15. 

First : God created man holy, without 
any defect, any weakness, or any tenden- 
cy to sin. Every power was conferred 
upon him which was needful to enable 
him to maintain the rank and perform 
the duties assigned him. 

Second : God set before him the most 
suitable motives to secure his obedience. 
He promises, as its reward, eternal hap- 
piness to himself and posterity ; and he 
denounces death as the penalty of sin, and 
the trial proposed was perfectly easy. 
The restraint can scarcely be considered 
as a restraint, surrounded as he was with 
the choicest and most abundant produc- 
tions of Paradise. 

Third : God did not withdraw from 
man — in the time of danger and trial — 
the ability w T ith which He had furnished 
him for his duty. His holiness was un- 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 113 

impaired until he yielded to the tempta- 
tion ; his faculties were continued in their 
full vigor ; no means were employed to 
darken his understanding and seduce his 
affections, but by the Tempter. God was 
still present to yield him any assistance 
that he might ask, and He never aban- 
doned him until he actually sinned. If 
Ave attend to these observations, we shall 
perceive that the fall w T as his own volun- 
tary act ; and one, too, that God could 
not have prevented without, at least for 
the time, destroying the freedom of his 
will ; and this He could not do without 
interfering with man's chartered rights, 
and making him something other than He 
had made him. 

Looking at the sin of man as his volun- 
tary act, it certainly was an act of daring 
rebellion, and justly deserved the punish- 
ment which ensued. What he did, he 
did in full view of the threatening de- 



114 MORAL AGENCY AND 

nounced against sin ; but listening to the 
Tempter, he disregarded God's command. 
The wisdom and benevolence of God have 
done all that could be done consistently 
with man's moral agency to prevent this 
state of things, and all have failed ; may 
not God now x punish him for his sin, and 
ought He not to punish him? Has he 
not forfeited all claim to life, temporal, 
spiritual, and eternal ? If there should 
be anything done for his happiness here- 
after, from whence may we expect it? 
Man is now under the righteous con- 
demnation of the law of God; nor has 
he any claim on the mercy of God ; 
he has forfeited all; he has disregarded 
the high authority of his Maker, and 
brought upon himself and posterity, ruin 
and death. This wreck of our race — 
universal as it is — I charge to the senior 
propagator of Universalism. He then had 
the face to stand forth in the presence of 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 115 

the woman, and contradict positively what 
God had said. Our parents — the great 
progenitors of the race and their fallen pos- 
terity — have been paying the forfeit of 
false doctrine from then until now. And 
but for the compassion of God, the door 
of hope must have been forever shut, 
and man doomed to eternal hell. I have 
attempted to show that sin entered the 
world through the agency of man, and 
that he alone is accountable for all that 
it has ever done. The will of God had 
nothing to do with the introduction of 
sin into the world; for if He willed it 
into the world, He must have gone out 
of himself for a motive — for there is 
nothing like it in His nature. If, there- 
fore, He goes out of himself for a motive, 
He is not, nor can He be, the self-exis- 
tent, independent, and all-sufficient God of 
eternity. 

As an evidence that God did not will 






116 MORAL AGENCY AND 

sin into the world, see the great moral 
administration of means and mercies He 
has put into operation to eradicate it 
therefrom. If He willed it into the 
world, He might as readily will it out. 
This would be much the shortest method 
of getting clear of it ; but this He can 
not do, since He had no agency in bring- 
ing it into the world. Upon the first 
visit He made man after his fall, He 
gave him a promise that opened to him 
the door of hope. "The seed of the 
woman shall bruise the serpent's head. 55 
In this promise is contained the great 
Gospel system with its means and in- 
strumentalities, and thus the door of 
hope was opened to man. I have said, 
that God, as a Sovereign, had no right 
to damn man without giving him a fair 
and equitable test of personal agency. 
jNTo more has He a right to save him 
without giving him such test of agency. 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 117 

li was by the abuse of this agency that 
he forfeited his right to a state of future 
and endless felicity, and brought upon 
himself, and posterity, sin, and all its 
miseries and liabilities. God, in the 
covenant of grace, has adapted the Gos- 
pel system to man as a sinner, just as 
He adapted the covenant of works to 
man in a state of purity and innocence. 
It is just as easy for a sinner now to 
obey the Gospel with all its influences 
around him as it was for man to obey 
the stipulations of the covenant of works 
in his conscious state of innocence and 
rectitude. To question this proposition, 
is to say that there is not adaptation 
in the Gospel system to the condition 
of him for whom it was provided. This 
would be to reflect upon the wisdom and 
benevolence of God. If under the Gos- 
pel of the grace of God man is not 
saved, it will be for the abuse of his 



118 MORAL AGENCY AND 

agency — the same crime for which man 
was originally cursed. But upon what 
principle does the Gospel system offer 
salvation to a guilty sinner? Not un- 
conditionally. This it can not do, with- 
out disregarding or destroying the agen- 
cy of man — and so his accountability — 
and rendering him incapable of virtue 
or vice, happiness or misery. Would 
it be wise or benevolent in God to in- 
troduce a system that would destroy 
man's capacity to enjoy happiness for the 
sake of destroying his capacity to suffer, 
and thereby defeat His avowed design in 
the whole moral arrangement? To give 
the conscious enjoyment of eternal life to 
as many as believe on His Son, the Gos- 
pel system is conditional, as needs it 
must be, to be adapted to man's condi- 
tion as a moral agent. His having sin- 
ned has not changed his constitutional 
nature, nor has the Gospel changed it. 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 119 

Sin has changed the quality of his moral 
character, and brought him under con- 
demnation. The Gospel system has ar- 
rested the execution of that condemna- 
tion, and again placed life before him. 
As the law called for perfect obedience 
as a proper qualification preceding the 
enjoyment of eternal felicity, so the Gos- 
pel calls for faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ as a state of mind properly pre- 
ceding the enjoyment of eternal life. As 
obedience was made the test under the 
law, so faith is made the test under the 
Gospel ; and as condemnation followed in 
the train of disobedience under the law, 
so damnation follows in the train of un- 
belief under the Gospel. 

Let us inquire in what the wisdom 
and benevolence of God may be seen, 
in the great system of Gospel salvation? 
Are they to be seen in the fact, that sin- 
ners are saved to the enjoyment of God 



120 MORAL AGENCY AND 

in Heaven? I say, they shine forth in 
the provisions of salvation for the race 
of sinners, and in the universal offer 
thereof to fallen men; and if, after all, 
the whole race should be damned, the 
wisdom and benevolence of God will 
shine forth with undiminished splendor. 
But, you may ask, if in that case the 
Gospel system would not be a splendid 
failure? I answer, it would not, unless 
it can be shown that the Gospel, with 
its means and instrumentalities, is not 
adapted to the condition of man as a 
sinner, and his capacity as a moral agent: 
but it would be a failure were God to 
save man by a system unadapted to his 
dignity of nature as a moral agent; and 
could in His wisdom devise no means 
by which He could save him without 
destroying his endowments as such an 
agent. To resolve the Gospel system in- 
to a system of physical power, is to re- 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 121 

tlrct dishonor upon the wisdom of God, 
and utterly to disregard the intellectual 
and moral endowments of man. it is, 
in the iirst instance, to allow that God 
governs mind by the same kind of laws 
that He governs matter; and is to assume 
that, in His wisdom, He has not, or could 
not, adopt appropriate laws for the go- 
vernment of mind. In the second in- 
stance, it is to assume that man has no 
higher endowments than matter, and that 
he is hence not a moral agent capable 
of being governed by moral precept ; but 
that he is a passive instrument, governed 
by physical force. As I have said be- 
fore, God's government over man, is a 
great moral administration ; and the Gos- 
pel system is a moral administration, 
adapted to man as a fallen, guilty sin- 
ner. Hence the commission given by our 
Lord to His apostles, " Go ye into all 
the world and preach the gospel to every 
6 



122 MORAL AGENCY AND 

creature; he that believeth and is bap- 
tised, shall be saved ; and he that be- 
lieveth not, shall be damned." The com- 
mand, go preach, is from God, and hence 
of high authority. The Gospel, in the 
Gospel, we have the proposition of salva- 
tion ; the great Gospel charter offers sal- 
vation and eternal life to guilty man — 
wherever it goes. The whole world is 
the field to be occupied, and every crea- 
ture the proper subject of Gospel ad- 
dress. The command can not be broader 
than the field ; nor the address more 
special than the provision ; yet it is to 
every creature. But, what is the condi- 
tion upon which the blessings of the Gos- 
pel may be enjoyed? "He that believeth 
and is baptised, shall be saved." Faith 
is here made the condition. But why? 
Because God treats with man as a moral 
agent, and will not save him contrary to 
that principle of his nature — for it is in 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 123 

this that his true dignity of nature con- 
sists. He being endowed with reason, 
will, and active powers, God so addresses 
him, and hence the Gospel submits a pro- 
position to his reason, embracing two ob- 
jects — salvation and damnation. Being 
endowed with will, he is required to ac- 
cept the offered salvation, and thus choose 
between these two objects; and being en- 
dowed with active powers, he is, under 
the Gospel plan, capable of this important 
work. If he reject the offer — as he 
may do — as a consequence thereupon he 
chooses damnation ; for these tw^o things 
are fairly before him, and he can not 
reject the one without at the same time 
choosing the other. In this view of the 
subject, to damn a sinner, is only to do 
for him that which he voluntarily chooses 
in view of all the circumstances. And 
in doing this, God but vindicates His 
authority, and acts in accordance with 



124 MORAL AGENCY AND 

man's voluntary agency. The Gospel is 
a moral administration of means and in- 
strumentalities, adapted to man's condition 
as a sinner, subject to, and capable of, 
moral government; and, of course, ad- 
dressed to his moral agency — consist- 
ing of reason, will, and active powers. 
In this great moral system, there is esta- 
blished one condition — and but one — and 
that is, personal faith in our Lord Jesus 
Christ: possessing this, gives a title to 
all the new covenant blessings ; and no 
moral agent may enjoy any of these 
blessings without having complied with 
this condition fully. The enjoyment of 
any of these blessings is evidence that 
the agent has complied with this con- 
dition. The salvation of the soul is 
suspended upon this condition, for the 
reason, that it is a proper test of man's 
moral agency under the Gospel : if, there- 
fore, he is saved, he is saved by his own 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 125 

consent, and this must be obtained before 
death, "for their is no device or work in 
the grave to which we haste." What- 
everj therefore, is done by man in form- 
ing his moral character for eternity, must 
be done in time ; for I can see no 
adaptedness in the Gospel system to 
man in a disembodied state ; so that 
the idea of the sanctifying process of 
the resurrection is as false as it is de- 
lusive. The resurrection being effected, 
the last act of Christ's mediatorial work 
being accomplished, His mediatorial king- 
dom — which is a kingdom of delegation 
and limitation — will be delivered up to 
God, even the Father. What I mean by 
a delegated kingdom is, that it is not a 
natural kingdom. Jesus Christ, as God, 
possesses universal kingdom ; but this is 
not His mediatorial kingdom ; this He 
has by special delegation as the Saviour 
of sinners; and this is the kingdom that 



126 MORAL AGENCY AND 

He will deliver up. What I mean by a 
kingdom of limitation, is, that it is limited 
as to time; there is a period in which 
its designs may be accomplished, ' and 
when they are, then shall the end come." 
1 Cor. xv, 24. The grand design of this 
kingdom, is to prepare the inhabitants of 
this w r orld for eternity. This it does by 
placing before them a fair and equitable 
test of personal agency under the provi- 
sions of the Gospel, that in view of this, 
they may form, in time, their moral 
character for eternity; that they may do 
this, the Gospel places before them two 
objects — life and death — between these 
they are at liberty to choose the one or 
the other, and upon their choice being 
fully determined, they are confirmed in 
their state for time and eternity. Their 
destiny is hence determined by their own 
acts in voluntarily choosing life or re- 
jecting it, and thereby choosing death. 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 1/27 

The two things arc placed clearly be- 
fore them, nor are the circumstances at- 
tending cither choice concealed from 
them, but what they do, they do with 
all the consequences of time and eter- 
nity fully before them. The wisdom and 
benevolence of God are to be seen in 
placing before them the great moral 
system of means and agencies, by a pro- 
per improvement of which, they may be 
sanctified by its all-cleansing efficacy, and 
so fitted for the enjoyment of life for 
ever more; but by neglecting or reject- 
ing this great system of means, they de- 
termine upon death by suffering their 
corruption to remain. The means and 
instrumentalities are ready; God has pro- 
vided them, and they are in their offer ; 
but they refuse to apply them, and so 
they die. If a sinner have Heaven and 
eternal life in his offer, and he refuse to 
accept them, and perish, whose is the 



128 MORAL AGENCY AND 

fault? Surely there is no blame to be 
attached to the wisdom and benevolence 
of God, which offer these blessings to 
him ; but his folly is manifest in re- 
jecting the offered good. I then repeat, 
if the whole race were at last damned 
eternally, the wisdom and benevolence 
of God in providing and offering salva- 
tion to man — adapted to him as a fallen 
sinner — subject to, and capable of, moral 
government, would shine forth w^ith un- 
diminished splendor. This, then, is the 
condemnation, " that light is come into 
the world, and men love — choose — dark- 
ness rather than light." We have, as 
moral agents, the privilege to say (if 
not in w^ord, in act), whether we will 
live amid the bliss of Heaven, or suffer 
all the miseries and anguish of lost souls. 
As a Sovereign, God has a right, no less 
under the Gospel than under the law, to 
establish a test act, and this right He 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 129 

has exercised. Faith in Jesus Christ is 
this test act. This gives connection with 
Him, and thereby to all the blessings of 
the Gospel of the grace of God, the ab- 
sence of which is fatal to the highest 
interests of the soul for time and eter- 
nity. " He that believeth not, shall be 
damned." In this, the immutable pur- 
pose of God is declared to punish the 
finally impenitent with an everlasting 
punishment. If this mean nothing more 
than death and the grave, then the righ- 
teous suffer as do the wicked, unless it 
can be shown that faith in Christ secures 
the believer both from the one and the 
other — and no sane man w r ill undertake 
this. In this passage there is some- 
thing pronounced against the wricked that 
never befalls the righteous. God makes 
a distinction between virtue and vice, 
between faith and unbelief. 

Is God a God of infinite perfection? 
6* 



130 MORAL AGENCY AND 

If so, He is a God of truth and faith- 
fulness, as well as love and mercy. Truth 
and faithfulness, no less than love and 
mercy, constitute a part in the infinite 
excellence of the Deity. If so, He is 
bound to make good His threatenings, 
no less than to fulfill His promises. 
" The hour is coming in the which all 
that are in their graves shall hear his 
voice, and shall come forth ; they that 
have done good, unto the resurrection of 
life; and they that have done evil, to 
the resurrection of damnation." — John 
v, 28, 29. " But now God commandeth 
all men everywhere to repent ; because 
he hath appointed a day in the which 
he will judge the world in righteous- 
ness, by that man whom he hath ordain- 
ed, whereof he hath given assurance unto 
all men, in that he hath raised him from 
the dead."— Acts xvii, 30, 31. The 
command, to repent, is universal ; and it 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 131 

is based upon the moral agency of man 
as being capable of doing the good con- 
templated in the first quotation, and thus 
forming a proper personal character for 
which he alone is accountable. Upon 
this principle, too, stands God's settled 
purpose to judge the world in righteous- 
ness. The command being founded in 
just principles, the judgment will pro- 
ceed upon the same. He will judge the 
world in righteousness, and whatever is 
found in man contrary thereto, He will, 
He must, condemn. The trump of God 
will sound ; the dead will be raised up, 
and the living will be changed ; the 
mediatorial kingdom will be delivered 
up; the judgment will set; and then 
shall the Son of man descend, attended 
by all the holy angels, to judge the 
world in righteousness. Before Him, not 
as a mediator, but as a judge, wall the 
assembled world now stand. In the re- 



132 MORAL AGENCY AND 

surrection, they come forth from their 
graves in the speciiic moral character 
formed by them during their probation ; 
hence, it is said, they that have done 
good unto the resurrection of life; and 
they that have done evil, unto the resur- 
rection of damnation. Where did they 
do good or evil ? Surely not in their 
graves, but during their lives. Now that 
they are before the judge, there is no 
possibility of a change of moral charac- 
ter ; for the mediatorial kingdom is given 
up, and they are confirmed in their state 
as they formed their character during the 
mediatorial reign. Christ is not now 
their mediator, but their awful judge. 
He does not hence call sinners to Him 
to save them, but to pronounce upon 
them their final sentence, according to 
the deeds done in the body — not out 
of it — else the apostle was mistaken. 
" For we must all appear before the 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 133 

judgment seal of Christ; that every one 
may receive the things done in his body, 
according to that he hath done, whether 
it be good or bad." — 2 Cor. v, 10. 

The punishment of the sinner is not 
blotting him out of existence; for it is 
a positive punishment. If I may so say, 
it is a living death : man dying, and yet 
forbid to die. It is called everlasting 
destruction ; but it is not the destruction 
of personality or consciousness. They 
are cut off from hope, and consequently 
from all conscious happiness. Separated 
from all the means of good, they will 
be afflicted with incessant restlessness, 
and feel the torment of desires which it 
will be impossible to gratify. They will 
agonize under a sense of the divine dis- 
pleasure by the accusations of conscience 
and by the horrors of despair. From 
this state of dereliction and absolute 
wretchedness, there is no relief; no pros- 



134 MORAL AGENCY AND 

pect of escape. Hope, which animates 
all in this life, never comes to such as 
have failed in their state of trial. No 
new opportunity will be afforded to cor- 
rect the fatal error. The ruin of our 
race in the fall w T ould have been com- 
plete had not God, in His untold w isdom 
and boundless benevolence, introduced 
the great system of Gospel grace, and 
thereby caught man as he was falling 
into the awful abyss of changeless ruin, 
and thus afforded to man a new test 
act, which threw T open to him the door 
of hope. Now his happiness or misery 
is not in the hands of another, but in 
his own — in so far as agency is con- 
cerned. If he now r throws aw T ay his 
happiness for a mess of potage, he may 
not expect another offer ; for this will 
be his own personal act. The final loss 
of a being destined to live forever, and 
capable of perpetual improvements and 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 135 

felicity, is an awful thought. It is total- 
ly different from the wreck of a globe 
like the earth on which we live; for 
when matter is deranged or scattered, 
there is no suffering; but in the w r reck 
of a soul is connected every conceivable 
anguish. As I have more than intima- 
ted, the punishment that God will in- 
flict upon the unbelieving, is everlast- 
ing. I know that it is contended, that 
all the sufferings of man are disciplina- 
rian, and hence are working for his good, 
and will finally work his deliverance 
from sin : man sins and suffers, and sins 
and suffers, by the accusations of a guilty 
conscience, and so he atones for his sin as 
he commits it, and hence his whole life 
is a scene of sin and suffering, so that 
when he dies he goes directly to Hea- 
ven. Now suppose this to be true, what 
is the principle upon which he enters 
that place of supreme happiness? Is it 



136 MORA.L AGENCY AND 

through the atoning merits of the blood 
of Christ? or by virtue of his own suf- 
ferings for his sins ? What proportion, I 
would ask, is there between his suffer- 
ings and eternal life ? If he enter Hea- 
ven in this way, it will be contrary to 
all the principles of the Gospel as re- 
vealed to us. There is no place in the 
Gospel where a life of sin is made the 
condition upon which any may enter the 
bliss of Heaven. Were this the case, the 
whole Gospel economy would be a nul- 
lity. There is still another absurdity in 
the thing, and that is, suffering being 
the effect of sin, it is saying that the 
effect may rise higher than its cause, and 
destroy it. This can not be. Moreover, 
there will be seen neither the wisdom 
nor the benevolence of God in admitting 
any one into Heaven unless he is in some 
way dependent on Him for this high 
privilege, and the system by which it is 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 137 

conferred upon him. If suffering entitle 
him to the kingdom of Heaven, and he 
endures these sufferings for himself, then 
is he noi dependent upon the atonement 
of Christ for his title to the heavenly 
inheritance. Yet, the Bible says, " there 
is none other name given under heaven, 
or amongst men, whereby we must be 
saved." So that with the Bible, I con- 
clude that none will ever enter that 
place of supreme felicity but by virtue 
of a living connection with Christ, ob- 
tained by faith. " He that believeth and 
is baptised, shall be saved ; and he that 
believeth not, shall be damned." Faith 
is made the condition of salvation — 
without which, no moral agent will ever 
be saved. Unbelief is the condition of 
damnation — without which, none will be 
damned. 

I have introduced a passage of Scrip- 
ture to prove that God punished the 



138 MORAL AGENCY AND 

wicked with endless punishment, and that 
His character, as a God of purity, de- 
mands that He should execute it upon 
all the finally impenitent- "Even as 
Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities 
about them, in like manner giving them- 
selves over to fornication, and going after 
strange flesh, are set forth for an exam- 
ple, suffering the vengeance of eternal 
fire. 55 — Jude 7. Here are persons who, 
Jude says, suffer everlasting punishment. 
I know the quibble about the words 
eternal and everlasting. If they do not 
mean endless when they speak of punish- 
ment, no more do they mean endless when 
they speak of happiness. The same rule 
of criticism that destroys from the teach- 
ings of the Bible the idea of endless 
misery, destroys equally the idea of end- 
less happiness, and at the same time says 
there is neither Heaven nor Hell in the 
future. In this view of the subject, I 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT 139 

should like to know what will become 
of man when he leaves this present state 
of things [f God has said the wicked 
shall suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, 
His immutable truth will bind Him to 
execute that sentence upon them. But 
you may ask, how a God of infinite bene- 
volence can punish His creature — man, 
with everlasting punishment? I ask, in 
turn, how can a God of inviolable truth 
denounce such a punishment against sin 
and then fail to execute it? As I have 
before said, the benevolence of God is 
concerned much more in the provisions 
of the Gospel for man's happiness, than 
in his final salvation; and in those pro- 
visions He has set forth His benevolence 
in such way, as that if the w T hole race 
should be damned, His benevolence would 
still shine forth with peculiar luster and 
glory. If sinners are lost, it will not 
be because God has not made provision 



140 MORAL AGENCY AND 

for them, and offered salvation to them. 
God did love them, and as such gave 
His Son to die for them, and hence 
salvation, by the Spirit and Gospel, is 
offered to them. If, therefore, they pe- 
rish, it will be because they reject, upon 
their own responsibility, the great system 
of Gospel salvation. In this place I 
purpose giving an article from Univer- 
salism, as adopted by the General Con- 
vention of Universalists in the United 
States, at their session in 1803, and so 
far as I know, has never been changed : 

"Article 1. We believe that the 
Holy Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testaments, contain a revelation of the 
character of God, and of the duty, in- 
terest, and final destination of mankind." 

I do not know T how it is possible that 
any set of men, laying any claim to com- 
mon sense, can believe that the Bible is 
a revelation from God, and at the same 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 141 

time teach that all hypocrites, liars, 
drunkards, assassins, and hangmen, go 
directly from their deeds of hypocrisy, 
falsehood, debauchery, and murder, to 
Heaven, when the Scriptures, which they 
profess as a revelation from God, say 
they shall not enter that holy and happy 
place. 

" Article 2. We believe that there 
is one God, w T hose nature is love, re- 
vealed in our Lord Jesus Christ, by 
one Holy Spirit of grace, who will final- 
ly restore the whole family of mankind 
to holiness and happiness. 

"Article 3. We believe that holi- 
ness and true happiness are inseparably 
connected; and that believers ought to 
be careful to maintain order, and prac- 
tice good wx>rks ; for these things are 
good and profitable unto men." 

Now, in all this, I can see no mention 
of, or provision for, the remission of sin ; 



142 MORAL AGENCY AND 

the doctrine of justification does not, in 
m y judgment, enter into the system at 
all. This is surely foreign from the Gos- 
pel system. The apostle says, "Being 
justified by faith, we have peace with 
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." — 
Rom. v, 1. When the Bible says, "He 
that believeth not, shall be damned," 
Universalism says, he that believeth not, 
shall be saved. Do thev believe the 

mi 

Bible to be a revelation from God? I 
leave you, reader, to judge between them 
and the Bible. Universalists profess to 
have a greater regard for the character 
of God than other men. Yet they think 
it no reflection upon His character to 
say — when He solemnly denounces end- 
less punishment upon the finally impeni- 
tent — that He is insincere, and speaks 
but to torment before the time. Our 
God is more benevolent than theirs, and 
what is more, He always speaks the 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 143 

truth ; nor does He tamper with the 
deathless interests of the soul, nor raise 
expectations that shall never be realized. 
The Christian's God is consistent with 
himself, and deals with man as a moral 
agent. He holds out to him, as a reward 
of fidelity, eternal life, to w r hich he could 
have no title but for the divine promise. 
Faith and obedience are but his bounden 
duty, and his reasonable service ; yet God 
has been pleased to connect therewith 
the promise of eternal life : sooner, there- 
fore, shall Heaven and earth pass away 
than His word of promise shall fail. To 
discover to man how^ exceeding sinful 
sin is in His sight, He has denounced 
against it eternal punishment, thus to de- 
ter man from the practice of it. Had 
He not done this, there would have been 
one argument remaining that God might 
have introduced to secure the happiness 
of man, but failed to use it. The bene- 



144 MORAL AGENCY AND 

volence of God led Him to do all that 
He could, consistently with man's moral 
agency, to secure his eternal happiness; 
hence his holiness is encouraged by the 
promise of reward, and a reward, too, in- 
finitely superior to his obedience. He is 
deterred from a life of sin by the denun- 
ciation of eternal punishment ; hence his 
way to happiness is surrounded on every 
side ; there is not a single argument that 
infinite benevolence might employ, but 
has been introduced to encourage and 
prompt man to follow after holiness, 
and thereby secure the favor of God. 
When I look to the Gospel, with its 
few, but well adapted instrumentalities, 
I am brought irresistably to this con- 
clusion, that a man who is lost under 
the Gospel system, could not be saved 
as a man; and to save him, God must 
make him something other than He has 
made him. This would be to destroy 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 145 

his agency, and hence his accountability; 
and this God will never do. 

Contemplate God seated upon His throne 
of universal dominion, His sovereign hand 
controlled by wisdom, power, holiness, 
justice, goodness, and truth, and rejoice in 
the fact that He is sovereign. 

This great moral system is not left to 
blind chance or stern necessity; but God, 
the great Creator, presides in infinite wis- 
dom, boundless benevolence, and eternal 
rectitude. He rides upon the wind, 
thunders in the storm, blazes in the 
lightning, and His throne is surrounded 
with clouds and thick darkness; yet, 
He dwells in light as in a garment. 

Contemplate man at first made in the 
image of God, placed in the most beau- 
tiful spot on earth, where all was order, 
beauty, and melody; the gentle breezes 
fanned the flowers; the unplowed earth 
yielded its rich fruits and harvest; and 



146 MORAL AGENCY AND 

honey distilled from the oak. Add to 
this the conscious rectitude of man's 
moral character ; the high and holy 
communion he had with his Creator; 
the universal dominion he had over all 
below, and especially the freedom of his 
will to govern himself, and the bound- 
less prospect of happiness which rose 
before him. Man's primeval state was 
surely a state of unmixed happiness. 

Contemplate him as a moral agent — 
subject to, and capable of, moral govern- 
ment — and you see man in all the glory 
of manhood, having in his own hands the 
future destiny of himself and untold mil- 
lions of human souls yet to be born ; 
having it in his power to bequeath to 
them all the blessings of an endless state 
of immortality and bliss. But turn your 
eye again and you see this beautiful pic- 
ture turned into a scene of the greatest 
deformity. Man has sinned, and the curse 



DOOM OF THE IMPENITENT. 147 

of God has Mien upon him, and all 
around him. Darkness now covers the 
earth, and gross darkness the people. 
This act was man's voluntary act, and 
the curse of God ensues as the just 
punishment of man for his sin. 

Contemplate the great moral adminis- 
tration which God, of His infinite good- 
ness, prepares to catch man as he falls. 
He is not unmindful of this, his noble 
work ; but provides a ransom for man, 
that he may not fall into a state of 
hopeless despair. When the fullness of 
the time was come, God sent His Son 
to die, that whosoever believeth on Him 
should not perish, but have everlasting 
life. The Gospel is now adapted to him 
as a fallen sinner. This he is required 
to embrace, that he may live forever. 

Contemplate w r hat the Gospel is destined 
to do for this world. The last dreaded 
enemy is to be conquered. Death and 



148 MORAL AGENCY, ETC. 

hell are to yield up their prey — to be 
robbed of their spoils — and death and 
hell are to be cast into the lake that 
burns with fire and brimstone. This 
earth is to be renovated and purified, 
and again become the abode of inno- 
cence and joy, the upright of all gene- 
rations are to be congregated in one vast 
and holy assembly. Angels and saints 
are to be associated, and God himself 
come down and dwell w T ith them. This 
will be the reign of universal holiness — 
the triumph of boundless benevolence — 
that will fill all holy beings with bliss 
supreme. Then shall the muse sing, 
"Time gone, the righteous saved, the 
wicked damned, and God's eternal go- 
vernment approved." 



LECTURE IV. 

THE BELIEVER'S FILIAL RELATIONSHIP 
WITH GOD. 



" For ye are all the children of God by faith in 
Christ Jesus." — Galatians iii, 26. 

In the text and context, the apostle 
shows the superior excellency of the Gos- 
pel dispensation to that of the law. Those 
who were under it, were shut up to the 
faith w T hich should afterward be revealed. 
It was but as a schoolmaster to bring us 
to Christ, that we might be justified by 
faith. The blessings of Heaven, through 
the Gospel, are no longer confined to a 
single nation, but are offered to all. For 
there is neither Jew nor Greek; there is 



150 SONSHIP 

neither bond nor free ; there is neither 
male nor female ; for ye are all one in 
Christ Jesus. All true believers are the 
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 

I shall first consider the relationship 
of true believers to God, under the Gos- 
pel dispensation. I need not dwell upon 
the truth that believers are not the sons 
of God in the sense in which Jesus 
Christ is the Son of God — whose gene- 
ration is ineffable ; being one in nature, 
perfections, and glory, with the eternal 
Father. His relationship is natural and 
glorious. But — 

1. In common with all other intelli- 
gent creatures of God, there is a rela- 
tionship out of which originate many and 
binding obligations. In this respect, they 
have all one Father, and in a particular 
sense is He the Father of Spirits. In the 
intellectual powers, moral endowments, 
and immortality of the soul, man resem- 



WITH GOD. 151 

bles his glorious Creator — for upon these 
was originally impressed the true image 
of God. Angels are the sons of God; 
and in tiiis they greatly rejoice. Adam 
was the first born son of God upon earth, 
and in his original, possessed the image 
of God, and in this consisted his chief 
happiness and glory ; nay, the whole race 
of men is said to be the offspring of the 
great God ; that is, they are His intellec- 
tual creatures, capable of bearing His 
image, and becoming partakers of the 
Divine nature by faith in the promises 
of the blessed Gospel : yet this natural 
relationship is not what is meant by the 
children of God in the text. 

2. They are the children of God by 
their profession. In this sense, Israel 
is called His first born, and His son. 
"When Israel was a child, then I loved 
him, and called him my son out of 
Egypt." — Hosea xi, 1. Yet one may 



162 SONSHIP 

be His by profession, and still not be 
His in the sense of the text. There 
is more contemplated than the mere pro- 
fession of Christianity. 

3. This sonship consists mainly in their 
being justified, regenerated, and adopted 
into the family of believers. Justifica- 
tion is the entitling act of God's grace, 
and changes the state, but not the nature ; 
it gives title to all the privileges and 
blessings of the new covenant. Faith is 
the condition upon which this blessing 
is secured. Faith gives personal connec- 
tion with Christ, whose righteous merit 
is the ground of a sinner's justification 
before God. Regeneration is the quali- 
fying act of Divine grace, and is one of 
the blessings of the new covenant — and 
the sinner being justified, has a right to 
claim this qualifying act — it being one 
of the blessings to which he is enti- 
tled by the justifying grace of God. 



WITH GOD. 153 

Justification giving title to all the bless- 
ings of the new covenant, and this being 
one of these blessings, of course it gives 
title to this; hence the qualifying act 
follows invariably, and in quick succes- 
sion the entitling act. Regeneration is a 
change of moral nature, conforming that 
to the image of God. There is, there- 
fore, title and qualification for all the 
blessings of the new covenant. What- 
ever, therefore, is promised by the Gos- 
pel, is entitled by justification — and 
regeneration implants the principle by 
which it may be enjoyed. What there- 
fore remains, is that this principle may 
be matured, and thus qualified for the 
fruitions of the heavenly state. Adop- 
tion is a legalizing act to membership 
in the family of God. Adoption neither 
changes the state nor the nature, but 
legalizes the heirship of the person whose 
state and nature were before changed by 



154 SONSHIP 

the acts of justification and regeneration. 
By adoption, the justified and regenerated 
are constituted members of the family of 
God, and have right to all the privileges 
of the sons of God. These acts are all 
in quick succession, and so closely con- 
nected that the subject knows no diffe- 
rence as to time; yet, there must be a 
governmental order in the work of grace 
upon the heart and character of a sinner. 
If adoption should be first, in that case 
you have a member of God's family with 
an unholy heart, and for sin condemned 
to hell — having neither title or qualifi- 
cation for any of the privileges of the 
sons of God. If regeneration should be 
first in order, then you have a sinner 
qualified for communion with God, but 
no title to enjoy it. The governmental 
order is first; justification, the entitling 
act ; then regeneration, the qualifying 
act: then adoption, the legalizing act 



WITH GOD. 155 

of membership in the family of the re- 
deemed. Although we may not be able 
to discern a difference in time or or- 
der, in these acts of divine grace, as 
they take place upon us in our salvation, 
yet as they are distinct acts, there must 
be an order in their process upon the 
sinner's heart, and this order must be as 
distinct in the divine mind as it would 
be in ours, if these acts occurred in our 
experience six, or even twelve months 
apart — and a separate and distinct im- 
pression was made by each. The work 
wrought in our hearts is a powerful 
work. We are justified, regenerated, and 
adopted, so nearly at the same time, 
that we are accustomed to regard the 
whole as one act of divine grace ; but 
in matter of fact, they are three distinct 
acts; and hence we receive the spirit of 
adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. 
We are conformed to the image of God. 



156 SONSHIP 

This resemblance is real, though greatly 
inferior to the original. Hence, God is 
not ashamed to be called our God ; nor 
is Christ ashamed to call us brethren. 

4. This relationship is not a mere title, 
or mark of distinction, but it has the most 
exalted privileges annexed to it. There 
is no condemnation to them who are in 
Christ Jesus. They are His temple; He 
dwells in them, and supremely possesses 
their affections; they are led by His gra- 
cious Spirit, and they follow Him most 
willingly and cheerfully; they dwell in 
their Father's house, yea, in His abiding 
affection; and they have a title to in- 
corruption, or a blessed resurrection. The 
body must die, but it — as well as the 
soul — is redeemed; it was the soul's 
habitation while here, and through the 
conduct of the spirit, was the instru- 
ment in the service of God, and by 
virtue of its union to Christ by the eter- 



WITH GOD. 157 

nal Spirit, God will raise it again. " But 
if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus 
from the dead dwell in you, he that 
raised up Christ from the dead shall also 
quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit 
that dwelleth in you." — Rom. viii, 11. 
The resurrection of the children of God 
will be by virtue of the living and abi- 
ding union which subsists between them 
and Christ. They are born to an incor- 
ruptible inheritance. Though by nature 
they are children of wrath, yet, in vir- 
tue of the work of grace upon their 
hearts, they are heirs of eternal salvation, 
and an unchanging glory will follow. 
They are heirs of God, and joint heirs 
with Jesus Christ. Hence they have a 
goodly inheritance. 

5. This relationship is equally the 
privilege of every believer in Christ. 
Ye are all the children of God, says 
the apostle. Believers may be distin- 



158 SONSHIP 

guished from each other as to external 
circumstances in life, spiritual gifts, and 
graces ; but their filial relationship is the 
same. The possessions of an earthly 
father are divided among his children 
by parcels, but the heavenly is not so 
divided ; all is for each, and each en- 
joys all. Heaven complete belongs to 
each redeemed child of God. If, there- 
fore, the resources of Godhead can con- 
stitute the soul happy, the redeemed soul 
will be happy. 

6. It is a relationship of which they 
are now conscious, and hence they now 
enjoy the comfort of it. With holy con- 
fidence they cry, Abba, Father. "And 
because ye are sons, God hath sent forth 
the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, 
crying, Abba, Father." — Gal. iv, 6. All 
such delight in approaching, with a child- 
like confidence, the great God. They 
draw near to Him because He has pro- 



WITH GOD. 159 

mised that they shall obtain mercy and 
find grace to help in time of need. Up- 
on this rich fountain — as the redeemed 
children of God — they have a just claim, 
not, indeed, as sinners, or creatures, but 
as the adopted children of God, and as 
such, having right to all the privileges 
of the sons of God ; hence they should 
come with boldness to the throne of the 
heavenly grace. 

II. Consider how they attain this pri- 
vilege and dignity. The text says, by 
faith in Christ Jesus. In illustrating this 
part of the subject, it may be proper to 
remember — 

1. That in the state of primitive in- 
nocence, Adam was truly the son of 
God ; bearing His image upon his moral 
nature, he resembled God; and hence 
he was His son in the proper sense 
of the term. But this resemblance was 
effaced by sin, and then his former re- 



160 SONSHIP 

lationship to God, as His son, ceased, 
and he was hence turned out of His 
family and garden as a stranger, foreign- 
er, and rebel, while he and his unnum- 
bered progeny became children of dis- 
obedience and wrath. At the very mo- 
ment that man dared to conceive sin in 
his bosom, God might have cut him 
down in that sin, and doomed him to 
hell forever; but to let him live and 
propagate his race, and then damn them 
for what he had done, we can not see 
the justice in the procedure, unless they 
have a personal offer of life and salva- 
tion, and reject that — then do they be- 
come the proper subjects of damnation. 
I conceive that the life and propagation 
of the race are the fruits of the eternal 
counsel of God conceived in Jesus Christ, 
and but for this, when Adam fell from 
primeval holiness, he would have fallen 
directly into hell ; but this economy of 



WITH GOD. 161 

grace caught him as he fell, and ren- 
dered him and all his race the prisoners 
of hope. Hence God immediately re- 
vealed this purpose of grace to him in 
these words : " The seed of the woman 
shall bruise the serpent's head." How 
precious the promise at this critical pe- 
riod — when all around him was darkness 
and death ! 

2. Only by faith in a supernatural re- 
velation can we be informed how this 
high relationship of sons of God may be 
regained. A knowledge of this sublime 
truth surpasses the capacity of the wisest 
philosophers, and even of angels them- 
selves; for they are represented by an 
apostle as desiring to look into this pro- 
found mystery. It is brought to light by 
the revelation from God alone. What a 
marvelous cluster of divine prodigies are 
brought to light by the Gospel of the 
grace of God. Here we learn the mission 



162 SONSHIP 

and incarnation of the Son of God ; His 
abject condition as a servant, under the 
grievous yoke of the law — himself a ran- 
som for the slaves of sin ; these slaves 
taken into fellowship with himself; and 
to them He grants the divine filiation of 
which I have treated in the first part of 
this discourse. An apostle says, " He 
who was rich, for our sakes became poor, 
that we through his poverty might be 
rich." In Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice 
for sin, Adam and his race have the 
personal offer of salvation; hence if any 
are now damned, it will be for rejecting 
the Saviour with all His divine offers of 
salvation. The law condemns all ; the 
Gospel calls all, and if all reject Christ, 
all will be damned; but if part embrace 
Him and part reject Him, then that part 
which embraces Him will be saved, and 
that part which rejects Him will be 
damned. Faith in Christ is now the test 



WITH GOD. 163 

act of the sinner, as obedience was the 
test act of Adam. Faith in Christ is 
the obedience which the Gospel requires 
to secure this high relationship of which 
I have been treating. From the time 
this relationship is consummated, to our 
dying day, the evidence of its existence 
to the world, is holy obedience to the 
commands of God. " By this shall all 
men know that ye are my disciples, if 
ye do whatsoever I command you." 

3. We become the children of God 
when we cordially believe in Christ ; we 
are hereby brought into union with Christ 
and into a dear relationship with God as 
His Father and ours. We are then born 
of God, and have Christ within us, as 
the principle of that eternal life which, 
as God's dear children, we are evermore 
to enjoy. 

REFLECTIONS. 

1. From the foregoing discourse, per- 



164 SONSHIP 

mit me, dear reader, to address you in 
the language of an apostle. " Behold 
what manner of love the Father hath 
bestowed upon us, that we should be 
called the children [sons} of God ; there- 
fore the world knoweth us not, because 
it knew him not. Beloved, now are we 
the sons of God; and it doth not yet 
appear what we shall be: but we know 
that when he shall appear, we shall be 
like him, for we shall see him as he is; 
for he is our life ; when he, therefore, 
who is our life, shall appear, then shall 
we appear with him in glory." There 
is such a connection between Christ and 
the believer as justifies this saying, "Be- 
cause I live, ye shall live also." Be as- 
tonished, ye heavens and all ye hosts 
thereof, that such slaves to sin as are all 
the sons and daughters of Adam, should 
ever be taken into the family of God — 
rank in dignity with the angels of God, 



WITH GOD. 165 

who have ever beheld His face in the 
pure realms of bliss — and be partakers 
with them in the pure inheritance of 
Heaven. The immunities and glory of 
the adopted state are far beyond the de- 
scriptions of tongue or pen. It is an 
adoption procured at an infinite price, 
and it hence elevates to, a high honor — 
even that of being sons and daughters of 
the Lord Almighty. 

2. You must not forget the love and 
obedience which this high relationship 
requires. If I be a Father — says God — 
where is mine honor? Should not this 
high honor, conferred upon you as a poor 
wandering rebel, reconcile you to the 
cross, though it should be never so hea- 
vy? It is the lot assigned by infinite 
wisdom, and He requires that you should 
bear it, as His dear children. This, too, 
is the way that you are to demonstrate 
to the world, your high origin, and your 



166 SONSHIP 

connection with the royal family. Are 
you, indeed, of the same family, and have 
you the same Father ? What a motive 
this, to influence you to love, as breth- 
ren ; to be pitiful, and courteous, and 
kindly-affectioned one toward another ; 
forbearing and forgiving one another ; 
and thus evinciQg the true spirit of the 
great fraternity now in the heavenly in- 
heritance. While mingled here with the 
children of this world, be watchful, lest 
ye imbibe their spirit, learn their ways 
and vices, stain your character, and be- 
come a scandal to your high profession. 
Remember, you have in your veins the 
royal blood of the heavenly family; and 
being washed in the blood of Jesus Christ 
from your sins, keep your garments un- 
spotted from the world, that when the Son 
of man shall be revealed from Heaven to 
judge the world, you may be presented to 
Him without spot and blameless. 



WITH GOD. 



167 



3. Subjects of this kind are generally 
insipid and dry, even to Gospel hearers. 
Had I been dwelling upon some political 
dogma, or describing to you the best 
means to secure large worldly posses- 
sions, you would read with undivided at- 
tention and deep solicitude. But I have 
been endeavoring to explain to you the 
riches of God's gracious adoption, and 
oh! how little you relish it. Blind, de- 
luded sinner, what a fatal choice dost 
thou make ! What, though thou hadst 
the wisdom of Solomon, the wealth of a 
Croesus, the beauty of an Absalom, and 
were as high in authority and dignity as 
ever was Haman, if thou art not a child 
of God, with all thy advantages and dig- 
nity, thou shalt lie down in sorrow. 
And when Jesus Christ descends to judge 
the world in righteousness, thou shalt 
come forth from thy grave to hear thy 
final sentence, " Depart from me into 



168 SONSHIP WITH GOD. 

everlasting fire." O! how that sentence 
will rend thy heart! O! hear in time! 
Come to Jesus. By faith receive Him 
as thy dear Saviour, that thou mayest in 
that day be found amongst the adopted 
children of God, and be forever blessed* 



LECTURE V. 

FINAL STATE OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 



" And there shall be no more curse : but the 
throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it ; 
and his servants shall serve him : And they shall 
see his face ; and his name shall be in their fore- 
heads." — Revelation xxii. 3, 4. 

John, in this connection, is giving a 
description of the New Jerusalem — its 
beauty, and blessedness ; and these verses 
comprise his concluding remarks upon 
this sublime topic. 

First : He shows what shall not be 
found there ; there shall be no curse ; 
no sin ; no sinful persons ; no sinful in- 
fluences; nor shall there be any night 
8 



1 70 FINAL STATE OF 

there; no ignorance; no error; no dark- 
ness ; no temptation ; there shall be no 
need of the light of the sun, nor of the 
moon ; nor shall there be any need of the 
light of the Word ; nor of the ordinances 
of the Gospel, 

Second : He shows what shall be there. 
The throne of God and the Lamb; that 
is, the glorious and everlasting presence 
of God and Christ, as upon a throne of 
royal majesty; so that the city may be 
called Jehovah Shammah — the Lord 
is there. It is added, His servants shall 
serve Him. Angels and glorified saints 
shall continually stand before Him, and 
administer to Him; they shall not hence 
spend their eternity in perpetually gaz- 
ing upon His divine glories, but also in 
obeying His high commands with vigor ; 
praising Him with cheerfulness; loving 
Him above measure ; fearing Him with- 
out torment; trusting Him without de- 



THE RIGHTEOUS. ] 71 

spondency ; serving Him without weari- 
ness; and singing in heavenly strains 
the high sounding praises of God and 
the Lamb forever and ever. They shall 
see God face to face — which imports 
fruition, as well as vision. They shall 
have a sweet and satisfactory delight 
in Him and all His holy commands. 
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for 
they shall see God." That is, they shall 
have a clear and apprehending view of 
Him. His name shall be in their fore- 
heads. His name — His holy image — 
impressed upon their moral nature, by 
which they shall be known, as a man is 
known by his name. They shall reign 
forever and ever ; not for a thousand 
years, as the church on earth will reign 
with Christ after the destruction of anti- 
Christ, but they shall have eternal vic- 
tory over all their enemies — Sin, Satan, 
and the World ; yea, and Death itself 



172 FINAL STATE OF 

shall then be put under their feet. We 
may learn from this view of the sub- 
ject, that when at any time we are de- 
jected on account of our darkness and 
imperfect knowledge, afflicted by many 
wearisome nights and days of sin, sor- 
row, trouble, misery, temptation, or de- 
sertion, that the bright day is coming in 
the which there shall be no night, but 
an eternal Sabbath of rest, light, and life, 
with all conceivable blessedness. Even 
fullness of joy and rivers of pleasure for 
ever more. The Lord giveth them light, 
and they shall reign forever and ever. 
But to be more particular. 

The resurrection of the dead will be 
attended by the general judgment — in 
which, great and small will stand before 
the judgment seat of Christ, to hear their 
final sentence. There can be no doubt 
but there will be a visible appearance 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will come 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 173 

in great power and glory, and erect His 
throne of judgment in the clouds of Hea- 
ven. His ministers will be the angels, 
who will be sent forth to collect the 
redeemed from all countries and ages, 
whithersoever they have been scattered, 
and array them before the judge, pre- 
paratory to their receiving their last and 
final sentence. 

Saints and sinners are here commingled 
in the common offices of life, and are 
connected by various ties; but then, they 
will be parted for ever. " Before him 
shall be gathered all nations ; and he 
shall separate them, one from another, 
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from 
the goats; and he shall set his sheep 
on his right hand ; but the goats on the 
left.' 5 — Matt, xxv, 32, 33. These words 
are commonly understood in a literal 
sense, as if the places named would be 
respectively occupied by the two classes 



174 FINAL STATE OF 

of mankind; but a little reflection may 
show us that we should not admit this 
interpretation. If the Son of man is to 
sit upon His throne in the clouds of 
Heaven, and the saints are to be caught 
up to meet Him in the air, the posi- 
tion of the two parties on the right 
and left hand can not be so easily ad- 
mitted ; and these expressions may hence 
be considered figurative. The place at 
the right hand — which will be assigned 
to the righteous — may be considered as 
representing the place of honor, which 
they will then occupy; for this is the 
general idea w T hich that situation sug- 
gests in Scripture language ; for you know 
that Christ is represented as sitting at the 
right hand of His Father, who has no 
right hand; yet, He has exalted Him 
for above principalities and power, and 
given Him a name above every other 
name. 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 175 

John says: "The books were opened; 
and another book was opened, which is 
tlit- book of life.' 5 — Rev. xx, 12. Out 
of these books will the nations, small 
and great, be judged. It does not mat- 
ter in what sense we understand these 
books; they will constitute the rule of 
judgment. To the law, as a rule of jus- 
tification and condemnation, the saints are 
not amenable ; for they have been de- 
livered from it by our Lord Jesus Christ, 
and when they believed in Him, that act 
declared they ceased to seek righteous- 
ness by the law T . The question w T ill not 
hence be whether they have fulfilled or 
violated it, but whether they possess that 
precious faith which He has appointed 
to be the only means of obtaining the 
salvation of the Gospel. No such in- 
quiry will be necessary for the satisfac- 
tion of the judge — who knows their 
hearts — and by His grace produced all 



176 PINAL STATE OF 

the good which will be found in them 
at the last great day. Yet, it will be 
necessary to answer the grand design of 
that day, the manifestation of His righ- 
teousness, and the rectitude of His deci- 
sion in the final allotment of the human 
race. In this way, all will be convinced 
that it is not an arbitrary decision by the 
which Heaven is allotted to the one class 
and not to the other ; and the assembled 
universe will see that the sentence is 
founded in reasons w r hich accord with 
the rectitude of the divine administra- 
tion ; evidence will be exhibited of the 
validity of their title ; and this evidence 
will be furnished by their w r orks. — 
Matt, xxv, 34, 35. It is most manifest 
to every one who understands his Bible, 
that the works of the saints are here 
mentioned, not as the foundation of their 
faith or salvation, but as the evidence 
of it ; and hence as the evidence of their 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 177 

title to the joys of Heaven. If men 
are justified by faith, and not by works, 
then, it follows that the final sentence 
can refer to their works in no other 
sense than as proofs to all who may 
witness the decision, that they are the 
persons to whom the promise of eternal 
life belongs. 

At this point, there is a very curious 
question often raised. Shall the particu- 
lar sins of the saints be mentioned, as 
well as their good works? I shall not 
here stop to consider this question, as 
it is much more curious than profita- 
ble; and those who have attempted to 
explain this subject, have been greatly 
perplexed, and much divided. I shall 
only stop to say, that there can be no 
doubt but there will be a general re- 
ference to them, whether they are par- 
ticularly named or not. God has cer- 
tainly declared that He will bring every 
8* 



178 FINAL STATE OF 

work into judgment, with every secret 
thing, whether it be good, or whether it 
be evil. — Eel. xii, 14. Justice, at least, 
seems to require that there should be an 
impartial review of the conduct of each 
individual; and it would seem — to call 
to review the sins of the saints — would 
but tend to magnify the grace of God, 
through which, they have been pardoned. 
But I must not go out upon this subject. 
As I have before said, notwithstanding 
their now glorious state and appearance, 
it will be understood that they were 
once sinners, who deserved to die, but 
were redeemed by the precious blood 
of our Lord Jesus Christ; and it will 
be an important part of the transactions 
of the last day, to proclaim the sentence 
of their acquittal in the presence of an- 
gels and men. If their title to the favor 
of God, and the joys of Heaven, is often 
to them a subject of solicitude and even 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 179 

doubt, in the present imperfect state, all 
their fears, doubts, and solicitude are dis- 
pelled either before they die; or if not, 
they will be for ever banished, as the 
spirit enters into the presence of God 
in the future state. I know that the 
ground on which the favor of God is 
sensibly enjoyed, is by many disputed, 
and the joy of communion with God is 
esteemed imaginary, and the faith of the 
righteous is derided as a foolish, pre- 
sumptuous fancy, and the doctrine of im- 
puted righteousness is pronounced the 
dream of a shadow. But the decisions 
of the last great day will put an end 
for ever to these suspicions and accu- 
sations. Who shall condemn those whom 
God has justified? 

There are many other slanderous char- 
ges pronounced against the saints of the 
Most High, through ignorance or malice. 
It is true, indeed, that they may some- 



180 FINAL, STATE OF 

times originate in mistake ; yet there is 
a disposition, on the part of the ungod- 
ly, to adopt the charges from their pre- 
judice against religion, and a desire to 
hold up such as make a profession of 
it, to contempt and ridicule : and I have 
no doubt but that the whole array of 
opposition against religion and religious 
people — on the part of ungodly men — 
originates in their secret hate to the pure 
principles of their holy Christianity. We 
know w T hat were the slanders of both Jews 
and Gentiles, against Christians in the pri- 
mitive church : it appears, from history, 
that these have been repeated, or new 
ones invented, in all succeeding ages ; 
and the same spirit yet prevails, as is 
seen from the opprobrious epithets with 
which the true disciples of Christ are 
branded, such as precisions, puritans, me- 
thodists, enthusiasts, fanatics, and hypo- 
crites. These terms are applied to them 



THE RIGHTEOUS- 181 

because they have imbibed the spirit and 
act under the influence of that system of 
religion which even their enemies pro- 
fess to respect. But the final sentence 
will vindicate the righteous, and cause 
the infamy to rest upon those who have 
slandered them perhaps a thousand times. 
Then shall we see the following declara- 
tion in all the majesty of fulfillment: "No 
weapon that is formed against thee shall 
prosper ; and every tongue that shall rise 
in judgment against thee, thou shalt con- 
demn. This is the heritage of the ser- 
vants of the Lord ; and their righteous- 
ness is of me, saith the Lord." — Isa. 
liv, 17. Such is, and such will continue 
to be, the decision of God concerning the 
righteous and the wicked. 

The day of judgment having passed, 
and the righteous having been openly 
acknowledged and acquitted, they shall 
make their triumphant entry into the 



182 FINAL STATE OF 

place destined for their reception. "These 
shall go away into everlasting life." The 
place is called Heaven, by which we 
understand that region of the universe 
in w r hich angels and the spirits of just 
men made perfect now dwell, and all the 
righteous shall hereafter be assembled. 
Where this place is situated, we shall 
not stop to inquire — for the inquiry 
w x ould be but a fruitless speculation. 
All our ideas about its situation are 
vague, and with all, very uncertain. 
There is only one thing, so far as I 
know, that we may warrantably con- 
clude, and that is, that it lies beyond 
the visible creation; for Jesus Christ, 
who is now in it, is said to have as- 
cended "above all heavens; 5 ' that is, 
above the serial heavens, and the starry 
heavens, according to the Jewish divi- 
sion of the superior regions. That Hea- 
ven is a place, I think we have no reason 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 183 

to doubt. It appears to me, therefore, 
that it is an imaginary refinement to con- 
sider it merely as a state. I do not pre- 
tend to deny but that God can make any 
place Heaven, by there revealing himself; 
but would the fact that He reveals him- 
self in any place, destroy the identity of 
the place, and so render it a nonentity? 
Wherever, therefore, God may reveal him- 
self, and communicate the fullness of His 
love, may be considered a heavenly place. 
But upon this subject, our business is not 
with abstract speculations and scholastic 
refinements about the power of God, but 
with the declarations of His Word. The 
Bible uniformly supposes that there is a 
particular place called Heaven, which is 
appointed to be the final abode of the 
righteous. There have been curious, and 
I may say, idle speculations, about the 
place of spirits; and w r hether — as they 
are not material, and can not like bodies 



184 FINAL STATE OF 

be confined within definite limits — places 
can be predicated of them ; but there is 
no occasion, upon this subject, for us to 
perplex ourselves with the arguments on 
either side, because the saints in the fu- 
ture state w T ill be clothed upon with ma- 
terial bodies. It must hence be a mate- 
rial place, for at this moment there are 
material bodies in it. Where is the body 
of Enoch, of Elijah, and of Christ? This 
place — be it what it may, and where it 
may — is the place which will be inha- 
bited by the millions of our race who 
shall be redeemed from under the whole 
heavens. 

Concerning the nature of the place, we 
can form no adequate conceptions. All 
the descriptions of it which we have in 
the Bible, are, without doubt, figurative. 
We know that some portions of our earth 
display scenes of astonishing grandeur 
and consummate beauty; yet Heaven will 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 185 

be inconceivably superior to what the 
world was before its beauty had been 
defaced by the curse following the trans- 
gression. And we may very rationally 
suppose that it will be totally different 
from the earth, because the beings who 
inhabit it are entirely changed; and al- 
though they are men, yet, their bodies 
w r ill be very different from w r hat they 
are in the present state. John, indeed, 
tells us in his revelations, that a river 
flows through it, and that trees grow 
upon the banks thereof. Yet, by a lite- 
ral interpretation of this language of the 
apostle, the whole subject would be de- 
graded. The ideas suggested are those 
of beauty, refreshment, and abundance. 
It is again presented to us under the 
notion of a city of pure gold, the foun- 
dations and gates thereof are of precious 
stones. " And the city has no need of 
the sun, neither of the moon to shine in 



186 FINAL. STATE OF 

it ; for the glory of God did light it, and 
the Lamb is the light thereof. And the 
nations of them that are saved shall walk 
in the light of it : and the kings of the 
earth do bring their glory and honor in- 
to it. And the gates of it shall not be 
shut at all by day; for there shall be 
no night there." — Rev. xxi, 23-5. All 
that we can here say, is, that in Heaven 
there will be visible tokens of the pre- 
sence of God. Upon earth He manifests 
himself, not only by impressions upon the 
minds of His intelligent creatures, but by 
displays of His perfections in the splen- 
dor of the heavens, and the various pro- 
cesses which are going on above us and 
around us. We may believe, therefore, 
that in Heaven He will manifest him- 
self, both by a secret intercourse with 
the souls of the saints, and by such ex- 
ternal signs as will show T that He is near, 
and that this is His temple and place of 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 187 

His glory. Who, let me ask, can con- 
ceive the majesty or the glory of the 
place which He has chosen for His pecu- 
liar residence? Here all the magnificence 
and beauty which we admire in the uni- 
verse, will be united with the magnifi- 
cence and beauty of which we can at 
the present form no adequate ideas. It 
will be the noblest work of the Al- 
mighty hand; and this will be Heaven — 
the final abode of the saints of the living 
God. 

Let us here stop and inquire whether 
the saints in Heaven will know each 
other when surrounded with all the in- 
effable glories of the place: — and one 
should think that such an inquiry was 
unnecessary, as the answer at once sug- 
gests itself to the mind of every man. A 
doubt upon this subject could only have 
occurred to some dreaming theologian, 
who, in his airy speculations, soared far 



188 PINAL STATE OF 

beyond the bounds of reason and common 
sense. Who, let me ask, with his Bible 
in hand, can doubt whether saints in 
Heaven will know each other? What 
reason can be given why they should 
not? Would it be any part of their 
perfection to have all their former ideas 
obliterated, and to meet in Heaven as 
strangers? Would this view of the sub- 
ject give us a more favorable opinion of 
the general assembly and Church of the 
first born ? Shall we suppose this assem- 
bly to consist of an innumerable number 
of strangers who never hold any commu- 
nion with each other, or by some inex- 
plicable restraint, are prevented, amidst 
an intimate intercourse, from making mu- 
tual discoveries? Or shall we suppose 
that they have forgotten what they them- 
selves were, so that they can not reveal 
it to their associates? What, I ask, would 
be gained by this state of ignorance ? 



THE RIGHTEOUkS. 1 89 

There can be no rational answer to this 
question. But we can very readily con- 
ceive what would be lost. They would 
lose all the happiness of meeting again, 
on the peaceful shore, those from whom 
they were separated by the storms of life ; 
of seeing amongst the trophies of divine 
grace, many of whom they had despaired, 
and for w x hose sake they had gone down 
to the grave in sorrow ; of knowing the 
good they have been honored to do, and 
being surrounded by the individuals who 
had been saved by means of their prayers 
and labors of love. How could those 
whom the minister of the Gospel had been 
the means, in the hands of God, in con- 
verting, and building up in the holy faith, 
be to him a crown of joy and rejoicing 
in the day of the Lord Jesus, if he did 
not recognize them when standing at his 
side? The saints will be free from the 
turbulence of passion ; but their innocent 



190 FINAL STATE OF 

affections will remain. Could parents 
spend eternal ages in the supreme bless- 
edness of Heaven without asking, are our 
children here — are they with us in this 
glorious abode? I do not suppose that 
the relationships formed in this world — 
which were the means of consolidating 
human society — will have anything to 
do with the happiness of the saints in 
Heaven, such as husband and wife, pa- 
rents and children ; yet, I have no doubt 
but that we shall have a great desire to 
know whether or not they are in this 
glorious place of rest and happiness; and 
I have as little doubt but that we shall 
know. The relationships upon which I 
suppose the social happiness of Heaven is 
based, are founded upon a common descent 
(naturally, we are all brethren), and our 
all being redeemed by the same precious 
blood, there is hence a natural, and a 
gracious relationship subsisting between 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 191 

the saints of God. Upon these, their 
social happiness is based. I am of the 
opinion that there will be no strangers 
in that world of supreme delight ; but 
that we shall not only know and recog- 
nize our intimate friends in our associa- 
tions upon earth, but every blessed inha- 
bitant amongst the saints of God. Love 
founded upon the redeeming power of 
divine grace, will be the exorcise which 
will consolidate the social society of the 
heavenly world. I have no doubt, but 
amidst the supreme delights of the hea- 
venly state, we shall pause to inquire — 
Are our friends, with whom we took 
sweet counsel, and with whom we walk- 
ed to the house of God, and with whom 
we traveled until death separated us — 
safely landed in this abode of transcen- 
dent blessedness? 

Again. It is supposed by those who 
deny the personal knowledge and social 



192 FINAL STATE OF 

enjoyments of the heavenly state, that the 
saints will be so absorbed in the contem- 
plation and enjoyment of God, that they 
will not need the society of others, and 
that they will be insensible to their pre- 
sence — so that when we consign their 
bodies to the silent tomb, that this is 
the last we shall ever see or know of 
them. O how gloomy! O how sorrow- 
ful such a thought! Shall I never see 
or know my dear friends again ? While 
I would acknowledge, and greatly delight 
to acknowledge, that God is sufficient to 
the happiness of His creatures, and de- 
light to concur in the sentiment that 
He is the chief, the supreme good, I 
can not suffer myself to be carried away 
by imposing sounds, and thus permit my- 
self to be deprived of the pleasing re- 
flection that when I get to Heaven I 
shall meet my dear friends, and know 
and recognize them. 



TI1K RIGHTEOUS. 193 

The question with which we have to 
do, is, What kind of a Heaven has God 
promised to His people, and what kind 
of a Heaven is suitable to the nature 
of man ? With respect to the latter part 
of this question, I may be permitted to 
remark, that, although the present rela- 
tions which subsist amongst mankind — 
father and son, husband and w T ife — are 
dissolved at death, and may not be re- 
newed; yet, as I have before said, the 
general relation of a common descent, and 
a common nature, strengthened by the 
relation arising out of a common redemp- 
tion, will remain; and the love, too, im- 
plied in these relationships, w r ill remain. 
I know T human nature will be exalted 
and purified, and in this knowledge, I 
greatly rejoice; but then it will not be 
essentially changed. Without such a 
change, however, we could not conceive 
its present tendency to union and fellow T - 
9 



194 FINAL STATE OF 

ship with others, to cease. Unless, there- 
fore, man should become something total- 
ly different from what he now is, he 
could not be perfectly happy in a state 
of solitude. It is, indeed, true — accord- 
ing to the hypothesis — that all his de- 
sires would be concentrated upon his 
Maker as his chief good ; but before 
we can admit this assumption, we must 
be assured that his instinctive desire for 
communion with his equals will, in the 
future state, be extinguished ; or more 
plainly, that he will receive a new con- 
stitution. If love for his fellow men 
should remain, it would, according to 
the hypothesis, be superfluous and utter- 
ly useless: a power preserved but never 
to be exercised. What idea can any 
one form of the family of God in Hea- 
ven, consisting of insulated individuals, 
of brothers connected in the most inti- 
mate bonds, but holding no communion ? 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 195 

With reference to the other branch of 
this question, which relates to the kind 
of Heaven God has promised to His 
people, you know that it is positively 
represented as a state of society. And 
how could it enter into any sane mind 
to conceive of it in any otherwise? Are 
not its inhabitants the identical persons 
who were congregated into one body here 
on earth, and united in the same faith, 
love, and worship ? And why, when they 
are assembled again in the sanctuary 
above, should they be supposed imme- 
diately to separate, that each may dwell 
in his own recess through an eternal du- 
ration, like the solitaries of the desert? 
Revelation does not so describe the final 
state of the righteous. " In my Father's 
house," said Christ, " are many man- 
sions." What a wild imagination must 
it be which would suppose that those 
mansions are to be inhabited by indi- 



196 FINAL STATE OF 

viduals living in a state of absolute soli- 
tude! The natural suggestion is that of 
rest, peace, and comfort — society and 
friendship. Heaven is furnished with 
every accommodation ; all those social 
enjoyments which we usually find in a 
house, will exist there ; and that, too, 
in their highest possible perfection. It 
is the place where all the children of 
God w r ill finally meet, as the members 
of a human family, who were separated 
during the day, and scattered abroad in 
pursuit of their various employments, as- 
semble in the evening around their com- 
mon family hearth ; so the children of 
God will, at last, assemble around the 
throne of God, and unite their songs of 
praise to Him as their dear Father. 
John represents them as standing before 
the throne ; but we must not suppose 
that they stand there as units compos- 
ing the aggregate number, without any 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 197 

other tie than that of juxtaposition. They 
are further represented as engaged in the 
same service of adoration and thanksgiv- 
ing. It is not the song of each for him- 
self, but the song of the multitude of the 
redeemed, which will be heard in the 
celestial temple. " After this, I beheld, 
and lo! a great multitude which no man 
could number, of all nations and kin- 
dreds, and people, and tongues, stood be- 
fore the throne, and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes, and palms in 
their hands, and cried with a loud voice, 
saying, salvation unto our God which sit- 
teth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb." — Rev. vii, 9, 10. There, they 
who went to the house of God in com- 
pany will meet; and there, they who 
never met before, will meet as dear 
brethren, and recognize each other as 
saved by the precious blood of our 
Lord Jesus Christ from the ruined race; 



3 98 FINAL STATE OF 

and instantly they will be united by the 
sanctified affections of the heavenly state 
in the social and triumphant song of re- 
deeming love. My soul exults in con- 
templating the scenes, the society, and 
the rapture of the heavenly state. 

Let us now turn our thoughts to the 
employment of the heavenly state. It 
has been represented as praise. And 
who can doubt the representation? It 
certainly is just. Every one will feel 
his supreme obligations to divine grace, 
and will, moreover, experience ineffable 
delight in ascribing the glory of his sal- 
vation to God and the Lamb, for his pre- 
sent glorified state. Whether there will 
be vocal praise in Heaven, can not be 
fully determined from the figurative lan- 
guage of the Bible; but that it will be 
vocal, does not seem improbable, as in 
that state the saints will have bodies, 
and so we may readily conclude that 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 199 

they will have all the appropriate organs 
fitted for the purposes of vocal praise in 
its most elevated character. Yet we may 
not suppose that praise will be their 
only employment. They will serve God 
day and night in His temple. But there 
are other ways in which a part of this 
service may be performed. They will 
have minds to contemplate, as well as 
hearts to love ; and why may we not 
conclude that a portion of their happy 
existence will be devoted to the survey 
of the glorious manifestations of His per- 
fections, and the review^ of His wonderful 
works? They will be surrounded by their 
redeemed brethren ; and will they not 
enter into conversation upon subjects in 
w T hich they are all equally interested ? 
Will they not listen with great delight 
to each other's history, and feel their 
hearts glow r w T ith admiration and love, 
while in every new relation there are 



200 FINAL STATE OF 

new discoveries of the Divine goodness 
and wisdom? But upon this subject I 
speak as a child would of the actions of 
a man, and with still less certain know- 
ledge, only in so far as I am guided by 
the sublime oracles of God's inspiration. 
We are ignorant, we can not tell whether 
language will be used in Heaven as the 
vehicle of thought, or some new medium 
of communication will be established. 
We understand still less the manner in 
which intercourse will be maintained be- 
tween men — who have bodily senses and 
organs — and angels who are incorporeal. 
But, one thing is certain : angels and men 
will be united in one holy society, and 
will dwell together in perfect friendship, 
receiving and communicating happiness 
one to another, and fervently loving each 
other, and eternally united in pouring un- 
ceasing praises to Him who is worthy of 
all praise. 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 201 

But the happiness of the saints in the 
heavenly state will not arise solely from 
the nature of the place, and the company 
with whom they are associated. As 
man's chief end is to glorify God, so 
his chief happiness will be to enjoy 
Him forever. This, I think, is the judg- 
ment of all regenerated men ; and Heaven 
is the object of their hope, because in 
that place, their desires for His presence, 
and the full communication of His love, 
will be gratified. "Whom have I in 
heaven but thee? and there is none on 
earth whom I desire besides thee." — 
Psalm lxxiii, 25. And our Saviour has 
declared, "Blessed are the pure in heart, 
for they shall see God." There is no 
real contradiction between this language 
and the language of Paul, when he says, 
"Which in his times he shall show, who 
is the blessed and only potentate, the 
King of kings, and Lord of lords; who 
9* 



202 FINAL STATE OF 

only hath immortality, dwelling in the 
light, which no man can approach unto ; 
whom no man hath seen or can see; to 
whom be honor and power everlasting." — 
1 Tim. vr, 15, 16. The one speaks of 
mental, and the other of corporeal vision. 
As God is a Spirit, as such, He has 
never been seen by mortal eyes ; nor can 
He thus be seen. The appearances of 
Him, mentioned in the Scriptures of 
truth, are only symbols and sensible 
forms of His presence, assumed for the 
time. For the same reason, no man will 
see Him, even in the future state; for 
we should recollect, that although the 
bodies of saints will be highly refined, 
they will still be material ; and it is 
physically impossible that a spirit should 
be discerned by material « organs. Jesus 
Christ w T ill be seen in the future state, 
and He will be seen, because He is 
clothed upon with human nature ; but 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 203 

the eternal Father dwells amidst inac- 
cessable light. Nor is it inconsistent 
with what [ have already said, to sup- 
pose a visible manifestation of His glory, 
similar to that which appeared in the 
most holy place, or the representation 
made to Moses, when the Lord passed 
by him, and proclaimed his name ; be- 
cause this would not be God himself, 
but only a sign of His presence. 

The saints will perceive God with 
their minds; that is, they will obtain 
knowledge clear and comprehensive when 
compared with their present imperfect 
knowledge, which they derive from His 
w T orks and Word. " Now," says Paul, 
" we know in part, and prophecy in part. 
But when that which is perfect is come, 
then that which is in part shall be done 
away. For now w r e see through a glass 
darkly; but then face to face; now I 
know in part; but then shall I know 



204 FINAL STATE OF 

even as also I am known." — 1 Cor. xiii, 
9-12. Strong as is this language, it 
must not be understood as an adequate 
knowledge ; for an Infinite Being can 
only be understood by an Infinite Mind. 
But the knowledge of the saints in the 
future state, will be comparatively per- 
fect; it will be free from doubts and 
error, and much more extensive than it 
is possible for them to attain in the 
present imperfect state. In the present 
state, our progress is slow, and impeded 
by many obstacles. There, knowledge 
will be infused into the mind without the 
operose process of instruction and mutual 
assistance. Here, our views are limited ; 
and it is only possible for us to see the 
outskirts of the divine glory. There, the 
revelation will be as ample as our finite 
capacities will allow. What the saints 
learn here, will shine with increased lus- 
ter, and present itself to their minds with 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 205 

an evidence and satisfaction which here 
they could never realize ; and many 
things will be disclosed to them which 
it had not entered into their hearts to 
conceive. Mysteries will be explained; 
difficulties will be solved; and excellen- 
cies will rise to view in the Divine na- 
ture, of which no vestage was discovera- 
ble in His works. How glorious will He 
appear when every veil is removed, and 
He is contemplated in all the fullness of 
His attributes! The sight will be trans- 
porting, and it can but fill the saints 
with the highest admiration and supreme 
delight. Nor do I apprehend that the 
knowledge of the saints in Heaven will 
be stationary; nor can I, unless I could 
conceive them as having sought out the 
Almighty to perfection. It is possible, 
indeed, that although it is now progres- 
sive, it may arrive at a point beyond 
which it is destined not to proceed; 



206 FINAL STATE OF 

at least, we could not prove this opinion 
to be absurd. The soul might acquire, 
on its first entrance into Heaven, or on 
its re-union with the body at the last 
day, all the knowledge of which it was 
capable ; and this being sufficient for its 
happiness, there might be no further ex- 
pansion of its faculties. But we natu- 
rally judge of the future state by the 
present; and finding that the soul now 
advances from step to step, we are led 
to anticipate its perpetual progress. There 
can be no doubt but that the will of the 
great Creator can indefinitely enlarge its 
pow r ers; and that, in the infinitude of His 
nature, there will be new discoveries to 
be made forever and ever. In the 
course of an eternal duration, all the 
wonders of creation may be surveyed, 
however wide in its extent and nume- 
rous in its parts; but He, in compari- 
son with whom, it is as nothing, can 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 207 

never be fully comprehended and under- 
stood. 

While the saints contemplate the cha- 
racter and perfections of God in the 
future state with their increased know- 
ledge and growing perfections, they will 
love and admire the eternal source of 
unbounded goodness. The knowledge of 
God in the future world will hence be 
attended with love, intense, supreme love. 
In this world, the saints prefer God to 
their chief joy; and there are seasons 
when their hearts go out to Him with 
an ardor which no created object, how- 
ever dear, can excite, with a desire for 
the closest union and the most intimate 
fellowship. But this flame will glow 
more ardently in the pure atmosphere 
of Heaven. Here, the love of the saints 
has to struggle with the infirmities of the 
flesh ; the reluctance of corrupt nature ; 
the operations of selfishness; the opposing 



208 FINAL STATE OF 

influences of visible things, by which the 
senses and the imagination are so power- 
fully affected ; but, then free and uncon- 
fined, it w r ill be concentrated upon its 
objects w r ith ineffable delight. Man — 
brought back from his wanderings into 
the immediate presence of his Father — 
will indeed love Him with all his heart, 
soul, mind, and strength; nor will the 
fervor of his affection ever cease — for 
there will never anything occur to sus- 
pend it or turn it into a different chan- 
nel. God will always maintain the pre- 
eminence, and will appear infinitely greater 
and better than all other beings ; and his 
love to other beings will be in perfect 
harmony with supreme love to God, and 
all that affection which he feels for 
others will flow from this exalted source, 
and will be attracted by His image, as 
impressed upon them in its lovliness and 
glory. In Heaven there will be a union 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 209 

of the most intimate kind subsisting be- 
tween God and redeemed souls — such a 
union as is effected by the purest and 
most active mutual love ; and the saints 
will be one with Him in a higher sense 
than we at present are able to conceive. 
There will not be even a momentary 
opposition of desires and interests. They 
will rejoice in God as He is, and all 
their powers will be devoted to Him 
alone. Upon Him their thoughts will 
be constantly fixed, and in communion 
with Him, their never-failing joy will 
consist. " Whether there be prophecies, 
they shall fail ; whether there be tongues, 
they shall cease ; whether there be know- 
ledge, it shall vanish away." — 1 Cor. 
xiii, 8. But love never fails. It is 
adapted to every condition of our na- 
ture, and constitutes its moral perfection. 
" Now, abideth faith, hope, charity, love, 
these three ; but the greatest of these is 



210 FINAL STATE OF 

love." — 1 Cor. xiii, 13. In the world 
to come, faith will be unnecessary, be- 
cause its object will be seen, and hope's 
object will be possessed. Faith, hence, 
will terminate in vision, and hope in pos- 
session ; but love is the grace which 
will live and reign while God and im- 
mortality shall endure. From what has 
already been said, it is most manifest 
that the saints in their future state will 
be supremely happy. But for a more full 
illustration of this subject, we may con- 
sider that it will be increased by the ab- 
sence of all causes of pain and sorrow, 
to the operation of which they are at 
present exposed ; from the presence of 
the highest good, and from the certainty 
of its perpetual possession. 

" There shall be no more death, neither 
sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be 
any more pain, for the former things are 
passed away.'" — Rev. xxi, 4. Sin and 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 211 

suffering are connected as cause and ef- 
fect. But all the inhabitants of Heaven 
are sinless, and consequently are no lon- 
ger subject to those sufferings which are 
the just punishments of sin, and in the 
present state are necessary to check the 
wayward disposition of sinful men, and 
to awaken them to repentance. There 
will be no disease or pain of body ; no 
anxiety of mind ; no fear ; no regret ; no 
disappointments ; no unsatisfied wishes ; no 
restlessness and discontent; no seasons of 
melancholy and depression; no broken 
friendships; no envy and jealousy; no 
distressing sympathies ; no separation from 
those we love. Affliction, when it now 
passes over the mind, sometimes makes 
deep furrows, which time does not erase. 
But in Heaven there will be no trace of 
past sorrows in the hearts of the saints ; 
no wounds still bleeding, or so slightly 
healed that a touch opens them again. 



212 FINAL STATE OF 

Remembering all the evils which befel 
them in this sublunary state ; all the 
sad scenes which they witnessed; all the 
losses which they sustained ; all the ago- 
nies w T hich they endured, their minds will 
be smooth and placid as the bosom of a 
lake when not a breeze moves upon it. 
Reflection upon the past will serve only 
to highten the contrast and to give them 
a more lively feeling of their present en- 
joyment. Who can conceive the calm 
of the heavenly state, where no tempest 
blow T s, and the sound of lamentation is not 
heard; where no qualms of conscience are 
felt, and not even a transient thought 
disturbs the serenity of the soul ; where 
every emotion and every reflection is de- 
lightful, and all within and without is 
bliss. They to whom death made this 
world a blank, and who w r ent down into 
the grave mourning because they were 
bereaved, mourn no more, having found 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 213 

those whom they bewailed, or far better 
friends. They have no other will than 
the will of God; and those whom He 
does not love, have ceased to be the ob- 
jects of their affections. " God himself 
shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes." 

They are not only exempt from all 
evil, but they are put in possession of 
all good ; and this good is not merely the 
perfection of their own nature, or the 
resources of their own enlightened un- 
derstandings. But it is God himself who 
is their everlasting portion and their ex- 
ceeding great reward. The soul having 
wandered from him, finds no rest upon 
earth; nor would it find it in Heaven 
were not God there. The happiness of 
man in Paradise was the favor of his 
Creator ; and this will constitute his su- 
preme happiness in his future state when 
fully recovered from his aberration from 



214 FINAL STATE OF 

God. How, I ask, could man be hap- 
py in a state of separation from his Ma- 
ker — the only supreme source of happi- 
ness to an immortal soul ? You might as 
soon suppose that a tree could live and 
flourish when cut off from all connection 
with the elements which are appointed 
to nourish it. The rational creature 
abandoned of God would wither and die, 
like the vegetable creation when the rain 
and dew of Heaven are withheld. The 
wicked will be miserable — not so much 
on account of the place to which they 
are consigned, for the Divine presence 
and favor could make even a prison a 
Paradise — as because they will see God 
afar off, being banished from His gracious 
presence, and separated from Him by an 
impassable gulf. It is the presence and 
favor of God which makes Heaven the 
seat of overwhelming rapture and de- 
light. 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 215 

In Heaven the saints see Him as He 
is, and hold intimate, uninterrupted, and 
everlasting communion with Him. Sure- 
ly He who made the soul has access to 
it, and may reveal himself to it so as to 
produce its highest felicity. The joy 
which we at present experience from 
pious meditation, or from the contempla- 
tion of nature, and the participation of 
the blessings which it supplies, is to be 
traced to Him as viewed in these pious 
reflections : and this shows us that He 
can make the faculties of the soul, and 
the organs of the body, vehicles of su- 
preme blessedness. When, therefore, He 
shall no longer withhold His hand, but 
pour out upon the objects of His favor, 
blessings in profusion, their most ample 
desires will be gratified, and their high- 
est expectations surpassed. If the saints 
upon earth triumph because they can say, 
" The Lord is the portion of our inheri- 



216 FINAL STATE OP 

tance," how much greater will be their 
exultation when they know the full value 
of their portion — the boundless nature 
of their inheritance! God himself will 
be their own God. He w T ho is all fair, 
and all good ; to whom all perfection be- 
longs, and of whose transcendant excel- 
lence this beautiful universe is but a 
shadow, He will be theirs, and will 
bless them forever : He w ill be to them 
all, and in all, around them, and within 
them, the light of their understanding, 
the joy of their heart, and the object 
of their eternal praise and triumph. 

Permit me to observe, again, that this, 
their state of happiness, will be greatly 
increased by the knowledge that it shall 
be endless. In Heaven there will be no 
apprehension of evil : this disturbs our 
best hours upon earth, and is excited 
partly by the suggestions of conscience, 
and partly by our experience of the vicis- 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 217 

situdes of human affairs. Here, therefore, 
we rejoice with trembling; and often in 
our most cheerful moments we are visit- 
ed with unwelcome forebodings of a 
change. Who can say, without pre- 
sumption, " To-morrow shall be as this 
day, and much more abundant"? The 
joys of religion are equally subject to 
mutation, as those of a temporal nature ; 
either because the saints are not at all 
times disposed to receive them, and by 
the unhappy influence of unbelief, they 
are excluded from their souls; or be- 
cause God is pleased to suspend them 
for the purpose of trying their faith. 
The state of Heaven is totally different. 
The duration of all created beings is pro- 
gressive, and is made up of moments fol- 
lowing each other in perpetual succes- 
sion ; but that of the saints in Heaven 
will bring no change of circumstances, 
and may be compared to the duration 
10 



218 FINAL STATE OF 

of the sun and stars, which from age to 
age are fixed in the same point of space, 
and shine with undiminished splendor. 
Eternity will then have commenced, 
which, as it flows on, carries all things 
along in a uniform, uninterrupted stream 
of bliss or misery. The very possibility 
of an end would mar the felicity of the 
saints, even in Heaven. Their joy would 
be suspended w r hile the question would 
be asked : Will this state of happiness 
be of ceaseless duration? The doubt 
necessarily included in this question, 
w r ould cause fear to pass as a shadow 
over the soul, and hence it could but 
dim the surrounding scenery. Still more 
fatal would be the effect, if there were 
positive grounds to suspect that their 
joy would come to an end. The idea 
of annihilation — from which nature re- 
coils — would be doubly terrible. Who 
could brook the thought of losing life 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 219 

in its highest state of perfection; of clos- 
ing his eyes on the transcendent beauties 
and glory of Heaven, never to behold it 
more ; of sinking into eternal insensibility 
after ages of rapturous bliss? But it is 
an eternal redemption which the saints 
of God shall enjoy. The last change 
which they shall undergo, is at death ; 
or, if you please, at the resurrection — 
when the separate spirits shall again be 
embodied. Then shall they enter upon 
a career which shall never terminate. 
Ages will run on more rapidly than hours 
amongst mortals; but thousands of years 
w^ill take nothing from their felicity. 
God has made them by His gift what 
He himself is in His own ineffable na- 
ture ; and of them, as wdl as of himself, 
it may be said, their years shall have no 
end. " There is no night there." "The 
sun shall be no more thy light by day; 
neither for brightness shall the moon give 



220 FINAL STATE OF 

light unto thee : but the Lord shall be 
unto thee an everlasting light, and thy 
God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more 
go down; neither shall thy moon with- 
draw itself: for the Lord shall be thine 
everlasting light, and the days of thy 
mourning shall be ended. 55 — Isaiah lx, 
19, 20. 

Whether there will be different degrees 
of glory in the future state, is a ques- 
tion much more curious than profitable ; 
and it is hence a matter of small moment 
on which side of this question we take 
our stand, since all the saints of God 
will be perfectly happy. The prize set 
before each individual, is of incalculable 
value, and hence worthy of the highest 
possible effort, that each may attain to it. 
The prize is Heaven. Is it worth pos- 
sessing? If it is worth anything, it is 
worth everything. When, dear reader, 
you and I shall have fought, and con- 



THE RIGHTEOUS. 221 

quered, then shall we possess the immor- 
tal prize, and with God's sacramental host 
join in rapturous song to praise the Rock 
of our salvation. 



LECTUEE VI. 

THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD BY 
MEANS OF THE GOSPEL. 



" For as the new heavens and the new earth, 
which I will make, shall remain before me, saith 
the Lord, so shall your seed and your name re- 
main. And it shall come to pass, that from one 
new moon to another, and from one sabbath to 
another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, 
saith the Lord." — Isaiah lxvi, 22, 23. 

The conversion of the world to Chris- 
tianity, is the most desirable and glorious 
event to which the mind of man can as- 
pire. For the achievement of this work, 
the noblest endowments of the mind, and 
the richest gifts of a benignant Provi- 
dence, should be put into requisition. 



CONVERSION OF THE WORLD. 223 

Other objects, it is true, fill a larger 
space in the eye of the public — and 
much more engage the attention of the 
great mass of men. This may empha- 
tically be styled the age of great and 
noble enterprise. Improvements in poli- 
tical science, in education, in agricul- 
ture, in manufactures, in navigation, in 
the typographic art, and in the means of 
inland transportation, have advanced, in 
our day, with an unparalleled success. 
Every genuine philanthropist can but re- 
joice in all these improvements, which 
promote the comfort and convenience of 
this life ; but when we compare them 
with the enterprise now under conside- 
ration, they dwindle into insignificance. 
For, when all these arts have been 
brought to a state of perfection, they 
leave untouched the core of the evil 
by which mankind have been chiefly 
afflicted. Man's worst disease is of a 



224 CONVERSION OF 

moral nature, and can only be reached 
by moral means and remedies. The 
Gospel of the grace of God is, in fact, 
the only remedy to the multitudinous 
evils with which our race is, and has 
been, afflicted. Human society, it is 
true, may be refined and embellished 
by other means, but the moral charac- 
ter of man can not be meliorated, nor 
his substantial happiness promoted ef- 
fectually in any other way than by cor- 
dially embracing the Gospel of Christ. 
What a blessed change may be produced 
upon uncivilized nations — simply by the 
Gospel — is now manifest to the world 
by the labors of missionaries in the So- 
ciety and Sandwich Islands, in South 
Africa, in India, and amongst the tribes 
of our own Indians. Men opposed to 
the Gospel may affect to undervalue the 
results of these missionaries; but in the 
eyes of all impartial judges, a truly w r on- 



THE WORLD. 225 

derful work has been accomplished. Let 
objectors show, if they can — but this is 
impossible — any such reformation of hu- 
man character by any other means. But 
it may be asked, Why does not the Gos- 
pel reform the wicked lives of Christians, 
if it possesses such a salutary efficacy ? 
To which I answer, that it does, just in 
so far as it is cordially embraced — al- 
though from the circumstances of the 
case, it is not so apparent, as in the 
conversion of men from the abominations 
of idolatry. Only let the Gospel be cor- 
dially embraced and obeyed by all nomi- 
nal Christians, and the whole face of soci- 
ety would be immediately changed. Piety, 
purity, benevolence, peace, justice, har- 
mony, and friendship, would then be pre- 
dominant ; and those innumerable evils 
which now deform and disgrace human 
character, would disappear. Such a 
change in the moral condition of man, 
10* 



226 CONVERSION OF 

it is true, would subvert, or render use- 
less, many institutions, now deemed use- 
ful, and even necessary. The whole ex- 
pensive machinery of Avar w T ould at once 
be annihilated. The capricious prisons 
and penitentiaries of the whole country 
would be converted into a nobler pur- 
pose than the confinement of human be- 
ings. Even the courts of justice and 
halls of legislation would be, in a great 
measure, deserted. The traveler, in pass- 
ing through the streets of our large and 
beautiful cities, would not see splendid 
theaters — those haunts of vice and wick- 
edness — rising up on every side; but 
their places w^ould be supplied by schools 
of useful learning, and churches dedicated 
to the worship of the eternal God. The 
universal prevalence of the spirit of evan- 
gelical piety, would not, as some sup- 
pose, render men unsociable and gloomy. 
There would be, indeed, less of that 



THE WORLD. 227 

frothy, noisy mirth, which can not bear 
reflection ; but much more solid peace 
and contentment ; pleasures more elevat- 
ed and pure : yea, an hundred fold more 
true and rational delights. It is hence 
an event most devoutly to be desired — 
and one for which every Christian should 
most ardently pray — that the whole world 
should be brought speedily under the in- 
fluence of the Gospel of the grace of God. 
The conversion of the world is a most 
certain event. If we may rely upon the 
Bible as a revelation from the God of 
Heaven — and therefore divinely true — 
this event is certain : for there is no truth 
in it that it reveals with more distinct 
clearness. The Gospel shall be preached 
to all nations. The kingdoms of this 
world shall become the kingdom of the 
Lord and of his Christ. The fullness of 
the Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel 
shall be saved. The heathen shall be 



228 CONVERSION OF 

given to Messiah for His inheritance, and 
the uttermost parts of the earth for His 
possession. The glory of the Lord shall 
cover the earth as the waters cover the 
sea. The time shall arrive when there 
shall no longer be any need for one to 
say to another, know ye the Lord ; for 
all shall know Him, from the least even 
to the greatest. The event is most cer- 
tain — for the mouth of the Lord hath 
spoken it. But when it shall occur, is 
to us very uncertain. It is not for us 
to know T the times and seasons that the 
Father hath put in His own power. 
Like the day of judgment — which as to 
the event is most certain, yet as to the 
time is unknown to the noblest created 
intelligence — so the precise time for the 
commencement of the latter day glory is 
hid from all men. Some so interpret 
the prophecies, as to teach that that day 
will not arrive until a day of dreadful 



THE WORLD. 229 

darkness and persecution shall almost over- 
whelm the Church of Christ; while others 
are sanguine in the opinion that the dark 
period is already past, and that we are 
now in the dawn of the millenium. But 
neither the one nor the other of these 
sets of interpreters have been able to con- 
firm their opinions by such solid reasons 
as to command our unqualified assent; 
and it may be, that it would not be 
favorable to the active efforts of the 
Church if the precise time of Zion's 
glory should be fully known to her. 
Absolute certainty of the near approach, 
or of the great distance of this event, 
might have the effect to paralize the 
energies of the Church, by leading to 
the neglect of the appropriate means in 
the first instance, from excess of confi- 
dence ; and in the latter, by despair of 
success. 

The conversion of the world — occur 



230 CONVERSION OP 

when it will — must be brought about 
by human agency. The means of accom- 
plishing it are already in the hands of 
the Church. There does not appear to 
be any absolute need again to resort to 
miracles in order to achieve this mighty 
result; hence there is good reason to be- 
lieve, that there will not be any miracu- 
lous interposition to bring it about. This 
world must, it w T ill be, converted through 
the instrumentality of the ministry of re- 
conciliation : such, at least, is the intima- 
tion contained in the commission given 
to the apostles by our Lord Jesus Christ. 
The heralds of the cross will go into 
every nation under the whole heavens, 
and preach the unsearchable riches of 
Gospel grace to every creature. Their 
sound shall go out through all the earth; 
and Jesus Christ, according to His word 
of promise, will be with them always, 
even to the end of the world, giving 



THE WORLD. 231 

efficiency and power to the Gospel of 
His grace. 

This duty of carrying the Gospel to 
all nations, has been incumbent upon 
the Church in all ages ; but thus far, 
it has been greatly neglected. Now, 
this duty devolves upon the friends of 
Christ, and it behooves Christians — all 
Christians — to ponder well their respon- 
sibilities to Christ, and the souls of their 
fellow men of the present generation. The 
salvation of the world seems to be, in 
some sort, suspended on the part that 
the Church shall act in regard to this 
momentous subject ; and for her encou- 
ragement, it may be said, that although 
we can not with certainty predict the day, 
or even the year, when the Jews will be 
restored, and the fullness of the Gentiles 
shall come in, yet we may say with con- 
fidence, that when, in the exercise of live- 
ly faith and fervent prayer, the Church 



232 CONVERSION OF 

shall put forth all her energies, and faith- 
fully and perseveringly employ all the 
means which God has put into her hands, 
then^, indeed, shall Zion arise and shake 
herself from the dust, and her righteous- 
ness shall go forth as brightness, and her 
salvation as a lamp that burneth ; then 
shall Jerusalem put on her beautiful gar- 
ments, and become the joy of the whole 
earth. 

Although our Lord will not have us 
indulge a prying curiosity respecting the 
times and seasons, yet He would have us 
be vigilant in "observing the signs of the 
times" — just as men are accustomed to 
observe the aspect of the heavens, that 
they may judge of the weather. It will 
not be thought amiss if I shall now spend 
a moment in considering what are some 
of these signs — as they will indicate the 
near approach of the predicted day of 
universal grace. 



THE WORLD. 233 

One thing which must unquestionably 
precede this event, is the preparation of 
suitable instruments to accomplish the 
work. Men of the right spirit must be 
trained and disciplined for the service 
of the Lord, in sufficient numbers, to 
bear the message of salvation to every 
nation under the whole heavens of the 
Lord. At present, therefore, it is evi- 
dent to all, that we are not prepared 
to carry the commission of our Lord, 
into full effect, because we have not the 
necessary instruments in sufficient num- 
bers. But if the Great Head of the 
Church intends that she shall achieve 
anything great in this glorious work, 
her attention will be turned to the busi- 
ness of searching out and training up 
young men for the ministry with great 
earnestness. This will be felt by all 
Christians to be a most important and 
solemn duty ; and no promising candi- 



234 CONVERSION OF 

date for the sacred office will be pre- 
vented from prosecuting his preparatory- 
studies for the want of the necessary 
means. It will be a favorable sign of 
approaching good, when the number of 
faithful Gospel ministers is multiplied. 

But not only must the number, but the 
qualifications of ministers be increased. 
When God is about to accomplish a 
great and noble work upon earth, men 
of the right spirit will be raised up, 
as were the apostles and martyrs; men 
w r ho will not count their own lives dear, 
nor be unwilling to seal their testimony 
with their blood, if the cause of truth 
and the honor of their Lord should re- 
quire it. Indeed, it is not reasonable to 
expect that the conversion of the world 
should be achieved without the shedding 
of blood. The grand adversary of God 
and man will not relinquish his govern- 
ment of the world — that he has so long 



THE WORLD. 235 

held in bondage — without a struggle. 
Whenever the same spirit which actu- 
ated the apostles and martyrs, and all 
the ministers of the primitive Church, 
shall animate the ministers and missiona- 
ries of the Gospel — and when the strong 
holds of sin begin to fall before their 
spiritual weapons — Satan will come forth 
to the contest with horrible rage ; and 
the more, because he will know that his 
time- is short. Know then, that as soon 
as ministers are multiplied, and they shall 
generally possess a full spirit of devotion 
to the cause and kingdom of Jesus Christ, 
and shall willingly offer themselves to the 
most perilous and arduous services, so that 
when the inquiry is made, Who will go 
for us to heathen or Mohammedan lands? 
the response will no longer be fee- 
ble, but a host will present themselves, 
saying, Here we are, send us. Then 
will there be good reason to suppose 



236 CONVERSION OF 

that the triumph of the Church draweth 
near. 

It will be a sign for good when Chris- 
tians generally shall feel deeply and ten- 
derly for the salvation of their fellow 
men. There are two grand defects among 
Christians, which cause this time of glory 
to linger: they are, want of love to Christ 
and the truth; and love to man. This 
last is not so much noticed as it should 
be: we are too easily satisfied; we con- 
tent ourselves with a sort of negative 
goodness in regard to this point; if we 
bear no malice to our race, if we do 
nothing positively injurious to them, we 
seem to think we have done our duty; 
whereas, the law of God requires that 
we love our neighbor as ourselves : and 
our Saviour teaches, that, every man, of 
whatever nation, or religion, on whom we 
can confer a favor, is our neighbor. The 
heathen, thence, are our neighbors, whom 



THE WORLD. 237 

we are to love as ourselves ; the Jews 
and Mohammedans are our neighbors, and 
if in our power — according to the law 
to which reference is had — we are to 
do them good. The time will come 
when Christians will feel this truth upon 
their hearts daily; it will occupy their 
thoughts, and engage their unceasing pray- 
ers to Almighty God for their salvation. 
They will often speak one to another 
upon this great and momentous subject, 
and will, with deep solicitude, inquire, 
What can we do to rescue our fellow 
men from imminent ruin ? If funds are 
needed for this purpose, there will be 
no disposition to withhold them when 
the Lord hath need for them; and they 
may aid in the salvation of immortal 
souls from eternal damnation, and bring 
them to everlasting life. Indeed, when 
Christians come to feel this subject as 
they should — and will ere long feel it — 



238 CONVERSION OF 

no sacrifice of time, money, or ease, will 
be considered anything in comparison 
of the momentous object which w T ill then 
occupy their minds. There will be no 
longer any need for earnest and pathetic 
solicitations to obtain the necessary funds 
for carrying on this work, for the peo- 
ple will make free-will offerings in such 
abundance, that it will be necessary to 
make proclammation, as in the camp of 
Israel, that the people stay their hands, 
because there is already enough, and more 
than enough. 

In the text, we have an intimation of 
the permanent glory of the organization 
of the Church. It is called " new hea- 
vens and new earth/' as also the spirit 
of devotion that shall prevail in the 
Church, and the promptitude with which 
the people shall attend upon the institu- 
tions thereof. The final success of the 
Gospel is referred to by the prophet. 



THE WORLD. 239 

"All flesh shall come to worship before 
the Lord." This will be a time of uni- 
versal happiness, as it will be a time of 
universal holiness. 

It will be a time of universal peace, 
as the God of peace will reign universal 
Lord. The spirit of war is contrary to 
the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
The prevalence of this peace is based 
upon universal love to God and man. 
These are the great principles which ac- 
tuate good men in all their active efforts 
in the cause of Christ. If we love the 
world, our ease, or our carnal comforts, 
more than we love the cause of Christ, 
this state of things will long linger, and 
we give evidence that the love of the 
Father is not in us. 

It will be a time of universal joy, as 
the pure principles of the Gospel shall 
have universally obtained. A universal 
shout of joy shall go up to the Lord for 



240 CONVERSION OF THE WORLD. 

the complete success of the Gospel of the 
grace of God. It is, therefore, a time of 
universal victory, and a fit representation 
of that glory which shall follow. The 
universal prevalence of the Gospel will 
destroy all those warring temperaments 
that separate men and nations in this 
present imperfect state. The present is 
the time for active enterprise and un- 
ceasing labor; but the future, for uni- 
versal joy and praise. 

Dear reader, are you a Christian? Then 
labor for the triumph of universal holi- 
ness and consequent happiness. Pray 
for, labor for, live for, and ardently ex- 
pect, this long prayed for, and much de- 
sired event — The Conversion of the 
World — when the name of the Lord 
shall be praised by all nations, and the 
whole earth shall be filled with the 
knowledge of the glory of God. 



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